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Breaking News in Technology & BusinessSun, 18 Feb 2018 02:39:38 +0000en-UShttps://www.geekwire.com/wp-content/themes/geekwire/dist/images/geekwire-logo-rss.pnghttps://www.geekwire.com
GeekWirehttps://www.geekwire.com/wp-content/themes/geekwire/dist/images/geekwire-logo-rss.png144144hourly1Asteroid miners might need a few good applied astronomers to show them the wayhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/asteroid-miners-might-need-good-applied-astronomers-show-way/
Sun, 18 Feb 2018 02:39:38 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398418AUSTIN, Texas — Mining asteroids for water and other resources could someday become a trillion-dollar business, but not without astronomers to point the way. At least that’s the view of Martin Elvis, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who’s been taking a close look at the science behind asteroid mining. If the industry ever takes off the way ventures such as Redmond, Wash.-based Planetary Resources and California-based Deep Space Industries hope, “that opens up new employment opportunities for astronomers,” Elvis said today in Austin at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In space,… Read More]]>An artist’s conception shows a long-range view of mining robots working on an asteroid. (Planetary Resources Illustration)

AUSTIN, Texas — Mining asteroids for water and other resources could someday become a trillion-dollar business, but not without astronomers to point the way.

At least that’s the view of Martin Elvis, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who’s been taking a close look at the science behind asteroid mining.

In space, the water in asteroids can be more precious than gold — largely because it costs thousands of dollars per pound to launch supplies from Earth. That water could be used to produce oxygen and drinking water for astronauts, plus the propellants for refueling rockets.

Other materials may come in handy for use as in-space building materials. But not all asteroids are created equal: Most space rocks will be worthless, Elvis said.

“To find the few percent of valuable asteroids, we can ask astronomers, using ground-based or mountaintop telescopes, and greatly narrow down the search,” he said. “We can save 90 percent of the cost of expeditions out to particular asteroids.”

Providing that guidance will require a “new band of applied astronomers” who are trained to identify the best prospects for mining, Elvis said. He said some of his colleagues in academia have already set up a stealthy startup aimed at acquiring astronomical data and selling it to asteroid miners — but he declined to provide further specifics.

Deep Space Industries, meanwhile, is working with Luxembourg’s government to get its Prospector-X prototype spacecraft off the ground, and last year it received two NASA technology development grants.

Both companies have announced plans to start mining asteroids in the 2020s.

The fact that the companies have devoted millions of dollars to in-house spacecraft development might suggest that they’ll draw upon in-house astronomical expertise as well. But Elvis said Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries are currently focused on the engineering challenges rather than the scientific tasks that will follow.

“Right now, my impression is that both companies are somewhat underestimating their needs for astronomers,” he said.

Elvis voiced confidence that there’ll be enough astronomers interested in asteroid hunting to fill the need.

“Occasionally, over the 30 years I’ve been at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, I’ve had a Harvard undergraduate come to me and do a project on supermassive black holes, which is my normal beat,” he said. “As soon as I started advertising working on little rocks nearby, I’ve had them banging on my door every semester, wanting to work on it.”

]]>Art meets tech: 5 Seattle companies showcase amazing paintings, sculptures and work spaceshttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/art-meets-tech-5-seattle-companies-showcase-amazing-paintings-sculptures-work-spaces/
Sat, 17 Feb 2018 23:30:22 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=396906The dictionary defines art as “the expression or application of human creative skill or imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” When we think of technology, our first thought may not be art. But the root of the word technology starts from the Greek origin “techne” meaning “art skill, craft and cunning of hand,” so technically tech is a form of art. Seattle is a city driven by imagination and creativity; it’s natural that artists and technology entrepreneurs thrive here. These five companies bring… Read More]]>Seattle tech companies are redefining their workspaces with fabulous artwork.

The dictionary defines art as “the expression or application of human creative skill or imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”

When we think of technology, our first thought may not be art. But the root of the word technology starts from the Greek origin “techne” meaning “art skill, craft and cunning of hand,” so technically tech is a form of art.

Seattle is a city driven by imagination and creativity; it’s natural that artists and technology entrepreneurs thrive here. These five companies bring their workplace walls alive, injecting visual vibrance into the environments and empowering employees to draw inspiration from the creativity.

A brilliant art collection can reflect a company’s history and demonstrate its character, style and spirit. Coffee may be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Starbucks. But at the headquarters in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood, a 40 year history told through art tells Starbucks’s journey as it welcomes visitors.

“Because our mission is to inspire. Because the coffeehouse is a place to think and dream,” notes a large plaque in Starbucks’ headquarters. “Because we have over 40 years of stories to tell. Because we are creative, innovative and passionate. Because we care about creating jobs in our communities. Because we believe in doing things by hand. Because we have the most walls for art in the world.”

Out of all the wonderful artwork, one particular piece stood out. From afar, the piece looks like a basic painting of the Starbucks siren logo. But upon closer look, thousands of interlaced thumbprints appear. Sometimes art is about the impact of a piece, the memory behind it, a block of time to never be forgotten.

In 2008 after the economic collapse, Starbucks was trying to rediscover their identity so the company created a new mission statement: “to inspire and nurture human spirit: one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”

After the mission was unveiled, Starbucks employees at the headquarters were asked to symbolically buy-in by sharing their green painted thumbprint on the canvas. This memory is saved forever on the canvas. Sometimes the most simple art can have the deepest meaning.

Starbucks also supports local artists at its headquarters. For example, adventure photographer Mike Simon’s images appear at the headquarters, including a panoramic piece in the Starbucks’ boardroom titled “Magic Carpet Ride” that captures the Starbucks Roastery.

The Star Wars-themed offices at Axon grab your attention immediately as you enter the vault doors. It is like you are entering a different revolutionary dimension, a futuristic galaxy of art and space. Axon, a maker of technologies used in military and law encforcement, does not express art through physical paintings, but with every integrated touch in the office design. The crisp, shiny, sleek white carries throughout the entire Seattle office with hints of neon blue lights and yellow highlights that reflect off the glass and arches, creating the ambiance of a spaceship!

The “Matrix Station” is a cutting edge sculptural piece of electronic art — rejuvenating your mind and transporting you to another place. Hanging above the “Matrix Station” is an innovative sculptural, glowing light that illuminates just enough to create an atmosphere of futuristic meditation. Just like a piece of art, it gives that emotional power you feel when trying to understand a piece of art. Art encourages engagement. Art runs through the body and soul and does not always have to be visual or made of paint. Art does not have to show people what to do, when we are touched by something, we are transported to a new place that is strongly rooted to physical experience in our bodies and minds.

The artistic approach in Axon’s office space shows that it values creativity — encouraging employees to open minds and spark new ideas. Axon’s artistic approach is a porthole into the future of artistic technology.

Tableau turns its new headquarters in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood into its own modern artistic creation. The maker of data visualization software used a massive open space to showcase an artistic vision around the themes of land, water, sky and space. The building itself is themed into four levels which then branch off into custom rooms on each floor, like the Dark Matter Room on the Space floor. But the real eye stopper is in the lobby, with the custom made inverted depiction of Mount Rainier by Seattle based Acrylicize.

Art also can serve as a rallying function. The light installation of the depiction of Mount Rainier does just that to you as you walk inside Tableau. This huge, soaring mountain of data floating in the sky is the silhouette of the reverse topography of Mount Rainier. It can be viewed from multiple perspectives. Every angle shows a different story. A sculpture like this adds an overwhelming sense of calm to the workspace. This is what makes art so special. Art is the product of the process, it is meant to influence and affect the senses, emotions, and intellect. This custom piece represents the soul of Tableau’s data driven office space.

This stylish mid-century modern space houses the creative minds of PicMonkey, a Seattle digital photo editor. The space embodies fun, energy and creativity. Using a whimsical monkey as its mascot of sorts, PicMonkey reflects its culture through art. The design reflects the nostalgia of growing up after World War Two, when the world needed joy. It is a “modern workspace that accommodates remote workers and a high degree of collaboration,” said PicMonkey brand director Karen Jennings. Bright colors, futuristic themes and monkey-themed pop portraits by artist Troy Gua showcase a unique environment. Pop art is probably one of the most influential societal tools of the modern and post-modern age. Art is more than aesthetic. It has a positive and powerful physiological impact on the brain. These custom paintings and pod wraps match PicMonkey’s creative vision.

PicMonkey is literally wrapped up in the art of Seattle pop artist, Troy Gua. Gua’s paintings hang throughout the office and conference room, but what stood were the unique artistic work pods. They literally are brilliant, powerful, inspiring cubes of art meant to spark creativity. Gua preserved the ideas from the design team, representing the things that inspired them as kids growing up. From the powerful image of Wonder Woman to the nostalgia of a Cracker Jack box, the PicMonkey allows employees to literally work inside pieces of art.

Color is a huge factor in the creative atmosphere. It is a powerful tool in the space, bringing out senses and emotions. The color in the artwork draws you in. It almost becomes interactive art, meant to be used, touched and enjoyed. When you create your environment to feel like a piece of art, the emotions inside these spaces change drastically. At PicMonkey, all I could feel was this inspiring and positive work environment meant to design and dream. (Editor’s note: GeekWire chairman also serves as chairman of PicMonkey).

Artwork and Pods in PicMonkey by Troy Gua (Photo by Aegea Barclay / DevHub)Artwork and Pods in PicMonkey by Troy Gua (Photo by Aegea Barclay / DevHub)Artwork and Pods in PicMonkey by Troy Gua (Photo by Aegea Barclay / DevHub)Artwork and Pods in PicMonkey by Troy Gua (Photo by Aegea Barclay / DevHub)Artwork and Pods in PicMonkey by Troy Gua (Photo by Aegea Barclay / DevHub)Artwork and Pods in PicMonkey by Troy Gua (Photo by Aegea Barclay / DevHub)Artwork and Pods in PicMonkey by Troy Gua (Photo by Aegea Barclay / DevHub)Artwork and Pods in PicMonkey by Troy Gua (Photo by Aegea Barclay / DevHub)

Art creates a sense of belonging. The story behind the art displayed in Chef’s Pioneer Square offices is so much deeper than I thought I would stumble upon. Hidden under the walls of Chef were so many memories. When Chef moved into the renovated space, they connected by chance with the Sanctuary Art Center, a Seattle non-profit that helps homeless youth “experience creativity and success through relationship-based artistic programs.”

The idea at Chef? Create a collection of Seattle Icons in a funky, fairytale themed style.

Amazingly, when The Sanctuary Art Center arrived at the Chef headquarters, they realized it was their old location. The unlikely alliance represented an opportunity to share an experience between two radically different organizations.

The environment in Chef is a welcoming, warm place.

Chef brings the Seattle community and culture inside their offices, and they use art to inspire the community and reflect on what that community means.

The arts have the uncanny ability to bring people together across traditional barriers such as age, income, education, race and religion. Art has the power to start conversations we might not otherwise have. Chef achieves this in their space, using the original doors from the building as a “canvas” for commissioned pieces. These were the same doors that opened and closed the Sanctuary Art Center studio doors everyday and night.

Mystical, fairytale themes mixed with recognizable Seattle spots appear on the doors, like the magical Jack and the Beanstalk Seattle Space Needle Skyline (Lance Lobuzzetta); The Three Little Pigs in Pike Place Market (Troy Carter) or The Fremont Troll with Hansel and Gretel (Rheannon Rice).

Chef preserved and enhanced their workspace with this visionary door art. The splashes of colors and interesting rolling doors alter the mood of Chef and add a fresh twist on their office space that brings the Seattle community and culture inside the company’s walls. The choices of art pay tribute to the neighborhood’s history.

Art can sometimes be a puzzle, not meant to be understood by everyone. But that is the beauty of art. It makes you think and wonder. It often divides opinion, and in communal spaces such as working spaces, lounges or break rooms, it serves as a focal point.

Art in this sense is communication. It allows people from different cultures and different times to communicate with each other. It gets people talking, and it opens dialogue that may have otherwise been lacking.

After touring these five Seattle locations, I kept coming back to the same place. Art touches our lives — and the environment we work in — so deeply. With some of the simplest and surprising touches, art impacts our minds and souls.

Aegea Barclay is a sales development executive at Seattle-based DevHub, makers of RallyMind. A native of the Northwest and a graduate of Cornish with a BFA, she is an abstract artist whose work has been exhibited in Foster/White Gallery, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, with notable patrons including Charlie Sheen, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Grammy Award winner Layzie Bone and NBA player Spencer Hawes.

]]>Photos: New vs. old Pittsburgh quickly comes into focus — and tells a story that’s familiar in Seattlehttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/photos-new-vs-old-pittsburgh-quickly-comes-focus-tells-story-thats-familiar-seattle/
Sat, 17 Feb 2018 18:16:45 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398366PITTSBURGH — My favorite thing to do when I get to any new city is to wake up relatively early and take a walk. As a photographer, I appreciate that the light is better and that the streets are less busy. I’d been excited to arrive in Pittsburgh as part of GeekWire’s rotating cast of HQ2 characters, to lend my take on the city’s continuing evolution through both the stories I’ll find and the images I’ll capture. A jackhammer outside our live/work space in Lawrenceville around 8 a.m. took the adjustment to East Coast time out of my hands, so… Read More]]>A new townhome development sits across the back fenceline of older row houses in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

PITTSBURGH — My favorite thing to do when I get to any new city is to wake up relatively early and take a walk. As a photographer, I appreciate that the light is better and that the streets are less busy.

I’d been excited to arrive in Pittsburgh as part of GeekWire’s rotating cast of HQ2 characters, to lend my take on the city’s continuing evolution through both the stories I’ll find and the images I’ll capture.

A jackhammer outside our live/work space in Lawrenceville around 8 a.m. took the adjustment to East Coast time out of my hands, so I got up and headed out for coffee.

Like a snapshot of Pittsburgh as a whole, the Lawrenceville neighborhood is and has been undergoing a great deal of change.

New shops, bars and restaurants have filled in vacant storefronts along Butler Street. In the entryway to one such bar the night before, I had a spirited discussion with the doorman, about “hipsters” and why he preferred to be standing in the cold outside while they were drinking cocktails on the inside. It’s a term that follows change to any city, anywhere, and it’s a conversation I guess I could have had in Seattle, on Capitol Hill or in Ballard.

I’ve been in Seattle for 22 years and have photographed the city from all angles for all of those years. I’ve always had an appreciation for any city’s ability to hang onto its charm, whether it’s through old houses and buildings, old cars, or businesses that have defied the test of time.

In Seattle, finding that stuff has become more of a challenge, and my photography has evolved along with the city — juxtaposing new against old definitely tells a story.

A mural on the side of a restaurant, whose website reads: “New Amsterdam reflects the hip sensibilities of trendy Lawrenceville while also staying true to an identity that is authentically Pittsburgh.” (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)La Gourmandine, an 8-year-old French bakery and pastry shop in Lawrenceville, attracts customers next to a vacant storefront. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)An empty shop, ready to become the next boutique or cozy bar on a street with many. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)(GeekWire Photos / Kurt Schlosser)

So on my first morning in Pittsburgh — a city I hadn’t been to since my brother lived here in the early ’90s — I walked around a neighborhood of old row houses, giddy over the ability to find something worth shooting at practically every turn.

The brick and the awnings, the weathered doors and stubby stoops, and the narrow streets and alleys and the chainlink fences separating tiny backyards were all so beautiful in a please-don’t-change-a-thing kind of way. Historic buildings that have been refurbished even fit rather seamlessly with neighboring homes that have been neglected.

But at the end of one block I found the juxtaposition I have become so familiar with back in Seattle.

An alleyway in Lawrenceville splits the old and new in Pittsburgh, with row houses on the left and new townhomes on the right. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)(GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

A row of new townhouses, with the colorful accents and the corrugated siding, and the frosted garage-door windows stood out against the landscape of older Lawrenceville.

As a visitor in someone else’s city, I place no judgment on developers or land owners who are building new homes like these. I have no idea what vacant lot or decaying structure stood there previously, or whether people have been clamoring to have them. Certainly it’s easier to build new than to breathe life back into the super old. I’m sure they fetch a good price in a neighborhood that had been affordable for generations.

(GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

But if I was dropped onto the front step of this new development, and I opened my eyes, I wouldn’t know what city I was in based on this housing style. I could be in Brooklyn, or Chicago, or Baltimore, Austin, Portland and so on. That wasn’t the case on other blocks where I walked and where I clearly felt like I was somewhere unique.

I don’t doubt that this evolution and its juxtaposition is something I’ll encounter across Pittsburgh this week, as I have across Seattle for years.

(GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)
]]>One-of-a-kind Hive Media Lab launches in Seattle, on a mission to invent the future of mediahttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/one-kind-hive-media-lab-launches-seattle-mission-invent-future-media/
Sat, 17 Feb 2018 17:11:57 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=396692If you’re going to have your lunch eaten, perhaps it’s best to have some say about the table setting. This new series by contributing writer Frank Catalano examines the evolution of digital content, from creation to consumption, and the technology transforming it. That could sound like a cynical interpretation of the launch of Cascade Public Media’s new Hive Media Lab in Seattle. Located inside the Seattle Center building that also houses public television station KCTS-TV and the digital news site Crosscut, Hive Media Lab is billed as a “collaboration and production” space. It’s an open innovation lab — in other words,… Read More]]>Hive Media Lab’s new green doors next to an old “On the Air” sign. (GeekWire Photo / Frank Catalano)

If you’re going to have your lunch eaten, perhaps it’s best to have some say about the table setting.

This new series by contributing writer Frank Catalano examines the evolution of digital content, from creation to consumption, and the technology transforming it.

That could sound like a cynical interpretation of the launch of Cascade Public Media’s new Hive Media Lab in Seattle. Located inside the Seattle Center building that also houses public television station KCTS-TV and the digital news site Crosscut, Hive Media Lab is billed as a “collaboration and production” space.

It’s an open innovation lab — in other words, not just for use by Cascade Public Media’s two media outlets. It’s designed to be a place for media and technology organizations to wrestle with the challenges facing media’s future.

But Brian Glanz, the Hive Media Lab director, has no illusions about what’s on the plate.

“Tech has been eating our lunch in the media for decades,” Glanz said as we toured the new facility, citing as an example many newspapers’ decline in circulation, reporting staff, revenue, and influence. “Part of Cascade Public Media is that 60-plus year-old TV station,” he said. “What happened to newspapers may very well happen to TV stations before too long. Instead of just reacting to all of that technical change, we want to get together and innovate our way through all of these changes.”

The new Hive Media Lab at Seattle Center. (Image: Cascade Public Media)

Thus Hive Media Lab, which is being held up as a one-of-a-kind innovation space for tech and media nationally. At its core, it’s basically a place — two rooms, really: a converted television studio once used for public TV pledge drives, plus a conference room that was once a green room, totaling more than 2,000 square feet. It features a high-end technology infrastructure, from huge LCD displays and a laser projector to dedicated gigabit broadband circuits and WiFi. And if all goes as envisioned, the Lab will host collaborative events and programs, organizations and projects.

What kind of projects? Glanz said one of the first is creating a series of broadcast public service announcements, or PSAs, to help fight “fake news.” Think of teaching people basic media literacy — like how to read a headline. While PSA campaigns are nothing new, Glanz said the broader team approach and bigger aspirations to reach viewers beyond KCTS’ audience makes it a favorite Lab project of his.

Hive Media Lab’s previous life as a TV studio for pledge drives and more. (Image: Cascade Public Media)

“The Society for Professional Journalists, the national organization in D.C., has endorsed the project and they are partnering with us to find distribution partners all across the country,” Glanz said. “The University of Washington’s DataLab will be handling the evaluation of how these pieces work or not.”

The plan is to run the PSAs as an experiment during this year’s elections. “If we figure out exactly how to move the needle on reducing the spread of fake news, then we’ll go big in 2020,” he said. “And if we don’t then we won’t, because it’s an innovation lab and you should measure if things are working and when they’re not, you should stop doing them or find a better way.”

Other uses for the Lab space and technology may range from hosting regular podcast producer meetups for sharing tips, to workshops, screenings, community listening sessions, and organized media hackathons.

While it’s true that many companies and universities have innovation labs, Glanz pointed out that “all of them are exclusive. You use that lab, you can use those facilities if you go to school there, or if you work there.” While the Hive lab began as an internal lab, too, he said, “What we’re doing here is opening it up to other media outlets, to the tech community, and to just the community.”

That open approach likely wouldn’t have been possible without significant outside support from Comcast. Linda Farmer, Comcast’s communications manager, told GeekWire, “We’ve committed nearly a million to the Hive, including $475,000 for improvements to the lab space and programming in addition to another $500,000 in technology support.” That in-kind tech contribution includes the broadband internet, WiFi, voice, and Comcast’s X1 cable TV service.

At the Lab’s grand opening this month, Cindy Parsons, Comcast’s vice president for market planning and strategy, said that while this is the eighth of a dozen planned innovation centers it will underwrite nationally, Seattle’s is the only one for media and tech. (Another, the new CoLab18 in Pittsburgh, is focused on serving as a community digital classroom and meeting space.)

Glanz would like to see the lab become the nerve center for projects that cross traditional news media and technology boundaries, generating new projects with the scope and impact of #SeaHomeless, which brought together more than 20 digital and traditional media outlets.

“What I would love to do is find other things like homelessness where we all should cover that together in the media — and we’ll have a much better impact if we do — and use Hive Media Lab partly to organize a lab team where we identify those stories and decide how we could possibly best cover them,” Glanz said.

In the meantime, plans for additional uses of the space still appear to be relatively open and flexible, like Hive Media Lab itself. Glanz said, for now, he’s personally being pitched with ideas for events and projects.

It seems appropriate. Both Hive Media Lab, and the broader traditional media it hopes to inspire, are looking ahead to determine what they ultimately will become.

]]>Week in Geek Podcast: Why Amazon cut hundreds of jobs the same week it became a $700B companyhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/week-geek-podcast-amazon-laid-off-500-people-week-became-700b-company/
Sat, 17 Feb 2018 15:07:45 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398318Amazon cut hundreds of jobs this week, but the company is still increasing its workforce overall, and market value continues to rise — in fact, it became the third most valuable company in the U.S. this week with a market capitalization of more than $700 billion. So why the cuts? GeekWire’s Todd Bishop and John Cook share their theories on the latest Week in Geek Podcast. Plus, bike sharing company LimeBike introduced electric-assisted bikes to the Seattle streets — we hear first-hand from GeekWire reporter Monica Nickelsburg about the ride experience and the program’s goals. On the random channel this week: Snapchat’s… Read More]]>Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. (GeekWire File Photo)

GeekWire’s Todd Bishop and John Cook share their theories on the latest Week in Geek Podcast. Plus, bike sharing company LimeBike introduced electric-assisted bikes to the Seattle streets — we hear first-hand from GeekWire reporter Monica Nickelsburg about the ride experience and the program’s goals.

]]>What if scientists find signs of alien life? Experiment suggests we won’t freak outhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/scientists-intensify-search-signs-alien-life-study-suggests-wouldnt-freak/
Sat, 17 Feb 2018 01:39:14 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398323AUSTIN, Texas — If extraterrestrial life exists, there’s a chance we’ll detect it sometime in the next 20 years. And then what? A recently published study suggests that most folks will take the news calmly, if they care at all. “How would we react if we find that we’re not alone in the universe? This question has been the cause of great speculation over the years — but, until now, virtually no systematic empirical research,” Michael Varnum, a psychologist at Arizona State University, said today in Austin at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In a… Read More]]>An artist’s conception shows the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, monitoring a distant star and its planets. (NASA Illustration)

AUSTIN, Texas — If extraterrestrial life exists, there’s a chance we’ll detect it sometime in the next 20 years. And then what? A recently published study suggests that most folks will take the news calmly, if they care at all.

“How would we react if we find that we’re not alone in the universe? This question has been the cause of great speculation over the years — but, until now, virtually no systematic empirical research,” Michael Varnum, a psychologist at Arizona State University, said today in Austin at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In a study published by Frontiers of Psychology, Varnum and his colleagues suggest that revelations about life beyond our planet will be viewed more positively than negatively.

That runs counter to the cautions contained in a series of studies put out during the 1950s and 1960s, implying that society couldn’t handle the truth about aliens. Such studies fueled suspicions among conspiracy theorists that the world’s governments were hiding evidence of alien life, purportedly for our own good. Those studies focused the potential impact of face-to-face encounters with intelligent extraterrestrials — and continue to provide the sci-fi fodder for movies such as “Independence Day” and TV shows such as “The X-Files.”

In contrast, the scenarios that Varnum’s team considered were more realistic, and almost literally ripped from the headlines.

The team also used Amazon’s Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing service to recruit more than 500 experimental subjects, and asked them how they’d respond to theoretical claims that signs of life had been found on a distant exoplanet. After their study was published, the researchers conducted an extra mini-analysis, looking at the text from eight news reports considering the possibility that an interstellar asteroid called ‘Oumuamua was actually a visiting starship.

A linguistic analysis of the news reports, as well as the experimental subjects’ reactions to such reports, all leaned more toward the positive than the negative. The subjects responded more positively to reports hinting at the discovery of alien life than they did to reports about the creation of human-made synthetic life.

“Some of the negative responses were ‘It wouldn’t affect me,’ or ‘I’m not sure I buy it,’ or ‘Why should I care?'” Varnum said. “In the positive responses, the one thing that stood out, just sort of eyeballing it, was that the word ‘curious’ seemed the most commonly used, followed by ‘excited.'”

For those who are looking forward to news about life beyond Earth, there could be a lot to get excited about in the months and years ahead:

Astronomers are building a high-resolution spectrometer called EXPRES to look for the signatures of extrasolar worlds in the range of Earth’s mass. A spectrometer with a similar mission, dubbed ESPRESSO, is already on duty in Chile.

So when will alien life be found? Traces of biological activity could be detected in the course of future missions to Mars, or the Jovian moon Europa, or the Saturnian moon Enceladus over the next 20 years or so.

Looking beyond our solar system, astronomers expect to zero in on Earthlike planets in Earthlike orbits around sunlike stars, as well as potentially habitable planets circling red dwarf stars. By the 2030s, they hope to have space telescopes powerful enough to detect chemical signs of life on those planets.

“I’m hoping that this will be a continuum of discovery,” said Yale astronomer Debra Fischer, one of the leaders of the EXPRES science team.

But Lindy Elkins-Tanton, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University, cautioned that the real-world discovery of alien life probably wouldn’t unfold as quickly and decisively as it does in the movies.

“I think it would take years of argumentation in the scientific community about the validity of the signature, the biosignatures on an exo-Earth,” she said. “That’s a very contentious field. And I worry about how the public will view science after that, more than I worry about how the public will view the biosignature.”

Update for 1:35 p.m. PT Feb. 17: We’ve fine-tuned the description of the methodology used for assessing the positive vs. negative spin of reports and reactions relating to the potential discovery of alien life.

]]>This quiz lets you pretend to be Jeff Bezos, picking the winning city for Amazon HQ2https://www.geekwire.com/2018/quiz-lets-pretend-jeff-bezos-picking-winning-city-amazon-hq2/
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 23:16:16 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398310Ever wondered what it’s like to be the richest person on the planet? Here’s your chance to find out (sort of). GateHouse Media, a publisher of local news publications, created a game that lets players pretend to be Jeff Bezos as he selects a winning city for Amazon HQ2. The game has data on each of the 20 cities in the running for Amazon’s historic second headquarters project. Without knowing which cities they might be choosing, players rank criteria from Amazon’s request for proposals like “culture and business climate” and “economics and incentives.” Then the game asks a series of… Read More]]>This game puts you in Jeff Bezos’ shoes.

GateHouse Media, a publisher of local news publications, created a game that lets players pretend to be Jeff Bezos as he selects a winning city for Amazon HQ2.

The game has data on each of the 20 cities in the running for Amazon’s historic second headquarters project. Without knowing which cities they might be choosing, players rank criteria from Amazon’s request for proposals like “culture and business climate” and “economics and incentives.” Then the game asks a series of questions about what’s important to them in their fictional economic development ambitions.

Think of it like a personality quiz but instead of figuring out if you’re a summer or an autumn, you’re deciding the fate of an entire metropolitan region.

Amazon selected these 20 cities to move onto the next phase of its HQ2 competition. (Amazon Image)

Several GeekWire staffers tried their hand at playing God Bezos. New York City, Denver, and Washington, D.C. emerged as favorites. Without trying, I got Pittsburgh, where GeekWire has established its own temporary HQ2 for the month of February. To our Pittsburgh followers out there, don’t read too much into the city I matched with. I doubt I have the same priorities as the real Bezos.

GateHouse Media created the game with more than 20 data sets, based on Amazon’s criteria. Lucille Sherman, GateHouse’s data enterprise reporter, explained the rationale for creating the game in a story she authored for The Patriot Ledger.

“It’s impossible to examine all the information each site submitted to Amazon, because not all the applications were made public,” she wrote. “So we decided to try something different. Rather predicting the winner ourselves, we wanted to let the reader decide where HQ2 should go.”

Play the game here and let us know which city you get in the comments.

]]>GeekWire Calendar Picks: Celebrate Women’s History Month with the Seattle tech community; International Startup Weekend; and morehttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/geekwire-calendar-picks-celebrate-womens-history-month-seattle-tech-community-international-startup-weekend/
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 22:30:40 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398003March is Woman’s History Month, and Seattle’s tech community is already gearing up to celebrate and support women in tech. The TUNE House, a scholarship program for women studying computer science, is kicking things off with an event on March 1 — Women’s History Month: Throughout The Generations. The event is focused on the idea of success and what it can mean for different people, from creating a stellar product to leading a company. Speakers include current and future tech leaders like Moz CEO Sarah Bird and Bhavya Manohoran, a fourth grade student and aspiring software engineer. Also hear from TUNE house… Read More]]>The TUNE House scholars. (TUNE House Photo)

March is Woman’s History Month, and Seattle’s tech community is already gearing up to celebrate and support women in tech.

The TUNE House, a scholarship program for women studying computer science, is kicking things off with an event on March 1 — Women’s History Month: Throughout The Generations. The event is focused on the idea of success and what it can mean for different people, from creating a stellar product to leading a company.

Speakers include current and future tech leaders like Moz CEO Sarah Bird and Bhavya Manohoran, a fourth grade student and aspiring software engineer. Also hear from TUNE house scholars and other Seattle tech executives about their experiences and how they define success in the innovation economy.

The event is free to attend takes place from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 1, at the TUNE Kitchen in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. Check the event website for more details and to RSVP.

That’s one of the highlights from our GeekWire community calendar, the spot for geek and tech events in Seattle and the greater Pacific Northwest. See the full calendar here, submit your event here and keep reading for more suggested events over the next few weeks.

What: “We are thrilled to bring the first International Startup Weekend to town!! Our goal is to bring together the multicultural communities that are making differences in various of industries around the Seattle area. We want you to be part of this diverse community and join some of the most passionate, talented, and entrepreneurial-minded people to build a brighter future collectively!”

What: “Black History Month is a time to highlight the achievements of black leaders in the past and present. In Seattle alone, Black and Hispanics comprise 15 percent of the population but own less than 5 percent of businesses… Join us for a unique pop-up marketplace in The Riveter, Capitol Hill: Shop, network, and learn more about how you can support more black women-owned businesses on a regular basis (not just during the month of February!) over food and drinks.”

What: “Follow the news and you know: Scientists are more than just chipping away at cancer. They are kicking down the barricades. Cell therapies are, at long last, delivering lasting remissions in a few indications… Hear from the leaders in Big Biotech, venture capital, and emerging startups at The Seattle Cancer Summit, Mar. 5. All proceeds go to the Mt. Everest Climb to Fight Cancer campaign at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.”

What: “Future Festival’s Seattle Business Conference will begin with a comprehensive overview of the 6 Patterns of Opportunity and the 18 Megatrends that are currently shaping consumer insights. The rest of the day will be filled with highly curated sessions that will explore future trends and pinpoint overlooked opportunities. The innovation conference will end with an immersive Future Party and you will go home with $4,000 worth of practical takeaway materials.”

]]>Effort to kill non-competes in Washington state fails again, leaving controversial contracts intacthttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/effort-kill-non-competes-washington-state-fails-leaving-controversial-contracts-intact/
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 22:20:04 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398289Washington lawmakers’ efforts to crack down on non-compete agreements died in the state legislature this week. Two bills that would have made it nearly impossible to enforce the controversial contracts, which temporarily prevent workers from taking jobs with employers’ competitors, blew past their Feb. 14 deadline without moving forward in the legislative process. A Senate bill and House bill were on the table this legislative session. Both bills made it out of committee but neither was called up for a final vote to pass each respective chamber by the Feb. 14 cutoff. The House bill would have prohibited non-compete agreements… Read More]]>Washington state lawmakers’ latest efforts to reform non-compete agreements stall. (Shutterstock Photo)

Washington lawmakers’ efforts to crack down on non-compete agreements died in the state legislature this week.

Two bills that would have made it nearly impossible to enforce the controversial contracts, which temporarily prevent workers from taking jobs with employers’ competitors, blew past their Feb. 14 deadline without moving forward in the legislative process.

A Senate bill and House bill were on the table this legislative session. Both bills made it out of committee but neither was called up for a final vote to pass each respective chamber by the Feb. 14 cutoff.

The House bill would have prohibited non-compete agreements for employees working fewer than 40 hours per week or earning less than 200 percent of the minimum wage. Independent contractors and employees taking a second job would have also been protected from non-competes.

WTIA CEO Michael Schutzler

The Senate bill is broader. It would have prohibited “any contract that restrains a person from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind,” except for an employee who sells all of his or her operating assets or ownership interest in a business entity to a buyer operating a “like business.” Exemptions would also have been made for partners who disassociate from a business partnership.

Michael Schutzler, CEO of the Washington Technology Industry Association expressed relief that lawmakers didn’t hurry to push a bill through this session. “A new non-compete law can easily help or hurt our state,” he said. “It should not be rushed for political expediency.”

Schutzler has been outspoken about non-compete agreements, an indication of how hot-button the topic has become in the tech industry.

Some in the tech industry believe non-competes hinder innovation. In a guest commentary for GeekWire, Founders’ Co-Op Partner Chris DeVore, cited California as an example:

California — and specifically the Bay Area (for tech) and Los Angeles (for entertainment) — is the undisputed global leader in innovation, and has the huge public companies and massive wealth- and job-creation to show for it. California banned non-compete agreements in 1872 — over a hundred years ago — and many economists point to the free movement of talent between companies and to new startups as one of the most important enablers of California’s massive lead in the global innovation economy.

Schutzler countered in an interview with GeekWire this week, claiming that defacto non-competes are in place in California all the time.

“The specious argument [is] often made that California doesn’t have non-competes so therefore Washington shouldn’t either is based on a false premise,” he said. “California does have non-competes. They have well-documented collusion. They have service contracts negotiated on exit. But even more importantly, Washington has a higher concentration of inventions, patents filed, and software developers than California partly because strategic and financial investors have confidence in our ecosystem.”

In California, companies like Apple and Google; Lucasfilm and Pixar; and others have reached settlements after they were exposed for agreeing not to poach one another’s employees.

Non-compete agreements have become a lightning rod as tech companies fight fiercely for a limited talent pool and try to protect proprietary information. Just this week, IBM sued its former diversity chief for taking a job with Microsoft in an effort to enforce a non-compete that left some lawyers scratching their heads.

Given the swelling debate over non-competes, it is likely that the Washington state legislature will circle back on the issue in the future.

]]>Researchers study links between gut bacteria and brain’s memory functionhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/microbiome-memory/
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 22:01:37 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398290AUSTIN, Texas — Can probiotic bacteria play a role in how well your memory works? It’s too early to say for sure, but mouse studies have turned up some clues worth remembering. Preliminary results suggest that giving mice the kinds of bacteria often found in dietary supplements have a beneficial effect on memory when it comes to navigating mazes or avoiding electrical shocks. One such study, focusing on mazes and object-in-place recognition, was published last year. And researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., are seeing similarly beneficial effects on memory in preliminary results from their experiments. PNNL’s… Read More]]>Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are studying how bacteria in the gut can affect the brain’s memory function. (PNNL Illustration)

AUSTIN, Texas — Can probiotic bacteria play a role in how well your memory works? It’s too early to say for sure, but mouse studies have turned up some clues worth remembering.

Preliminary results suggest that giving mice the kinds of bacteria often found in dietary supplements have a beneficial effect on memory when it comes to navigating mazes or avoiding electrical shocks.

Janet Jansson is chief scientist for biology in the Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. (PNNL Photo)

To measure how the presence of the bacteria affected memory, Jansson and her colleagues used a standard memory test that involved giving the mice a foot shock in a darkened part of the chamber, waiting several days, then seeing how well the mice knew to avoid the chamber’s dark place.

“The longer it takes for them to go back, the better memory they have,” Jansson explained.

She said the mice that were given the bacteria showed “much improved memory.”

The PNNL team then focused on the mechanism linking gut bacteria to brain function. The mice with the Lactobacillus boost showed elevated levels of mannitol, a sugar molecule that has some therapeutic applications.

“We’ve gotten some pieces of the puzzle, but it’s not complete yet,” Jansson said.

Joseph Petrosino, a microbiologist at Baylor College of Medicine, said that the link between Lactobacillus and memory improvement made sense, but that lots of details remain to be filled in.

“Lactobacillus is like the Swiss army knife of the microbiome. … The challenge is that, as with any microbial species, strain-to-strain variation can be as much as 40 percent,” Petrosino told GeekWire. “So not all strains are made equal. We have to understand which strains are doing what.”

If the right strains of Lactobacillus are identified, could taking a probiotic pill (or a cup of yogurt) serve as a memory booster for humans as well as mice?

“That’s really the big open question,” Jansson said.

]]>Geek of the Week: Ex-Microsoft VP Alex Gounares keeps moving, fighting cyberattacks with Polyversehttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/alexander-gounares/
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 20:15:44 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=392561When asked how “we” — modern society — are doing in beating back cyberattacks, Alex Gounares offered a blunt assessment: “We’re losing. That’s the simple, simple way to look at it.” Gounares said the cybersecurity industry, writ large, has been growing 10-12 percent a year, consistently, for the last 15 plus years. People are spending more and more every year on security. “Yet, you have Equifax,” he said of September’s massive data breach at the consumer credit reporting agency. “The Equifax attack was a good old fashioned, straight through the front door, take over the website, and grab all the data. There’s nothing… Read More]]>Alex Gounares is founder and CEO of Polyverse Corp. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

When asked how “we” — modern society — are doing in beating back cyberattacks, Alex Gounares offered a blunt assessment: “We’re losing. That’s the simple, simple way to look at it.”

Gounares said the cybersecurity industry, writ large, has been growing 10-12 percent a year, consistently, for the last 15 plus years. People are spending more and more every year on security.

“Yet, you have Equifax,” he said of September’s massive data breach at the consumer credit reporting agency. “The Equifax attack was a good old fashioned, straight through the front door, take over the website, and grab all the data. There’s nothing exotic about it, and yet it still happens.”

But Gounares, with a background at giant tech companies and little startups, believes his latest venture has the answers.

Polyverse Corp. is a 2 1/2-year-old Bellevue, Wash.-based company focused on protecting software from cyberattacks using moving target defense technologies. Could they have prevented Equifax? “Oh yeah, absolutely,” said our latest Geek of the Week.

Gounares previously led Concurix Corp., a maker of Node.js profiling tools, and he also served as chief technology officer at AOL. Prior to that, he was a corporate vice president and CTO for the Microsoft’s Online Services Division. He had his hand in the projects including the company’s global advertising platform, Bing search, MSN and Microsoft Virtual Earth. He was also technology advisor to Bill Gates for three years.

In 2003, working with Gates, Gounares was partly focused on security, and became keen to the fact that a culture in which everyone ran the same software — including the bad guys — was a bad way of doing business.

“People are trying to defend a static target,” he said. “It’s like playing dodgeball. Yeah, sure, I’m a geek, so I’m one of the kids who would grab the ball and just stand there, and you get beaned if you stand still playing dodgeball. You gotta move. If you don’t move you’re in trouble.”

With societies across the globe so dependent on computers for banking, logistics, agriculture, power and everything else, Gounares worries about the evil person who eventually says, “I want to take out the world.”

Moving fast enough to get protections in place — “we know how to solve this problem” — is what gives him hope. And at 20 employees and growing, it’s a question he poses to anyone interested in joining the fight.

“It’s a test of wills,” Gounares said. “The Chinese have 100,000 people in the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] doing nothing but hacking Western companies and governments. You’ve got the Russian mafia, you’ve got North Koreans and Syrians, you’ve got a lot of benevolent actors out there. The question for anybody joining the company is, ‘Can you be smarter than 100,000 and more of the smartest bad guys in the world?'”

Learn more about this week’s Geek of the Week, Alex Gounares:

What do you do, and why do you do it? “Despite having done many different roles over the years, I’ll always be an engineer at heart. I love building and creating!”

What’s the single most important thing people should know about your field? “Have hope! Right now, computer software is a mess in terms of cybersecurity. Just think of how many times you’ve seen a major cyberattack in the news or had your or a friends computer infected with a virus. The good news is that there are new technologies being developed now that are fundamentally solving the problem of cybersecurity. Remember getting directions before online maps and GPS? It’s pretty tough to get lost these days, but it wasn’t that long ago that finding a place in an unfamiliar town was quite challenging.”

Where do you find your inspiration? “In all kinds of places (not sure if I should admit to long hot showers as a good place to think!). Polyverse, my current company, was actually inspired by biology — zombies more specifically. Just ask a simple question: why has the world not been taken over the by the zombie apocalypse? Or why haven’t humans been wiped out by the Spanish Flu, Bubonic Plague, Ebola — choose any tragic disease outbreak. The answer is our genetic diversity; our diversity gives us strength and resilience against biological viruses. The natural question to ask then is: how to apply the resilience of diversity to computers? That’s what we’ve done with Polyverse — we automatically create resilience against cyberattacks by making every computer unique and diverse. If you are running the same software available to hackers, you’ll eventually get hacked!”

What’s the one piece of technology you couldn’t live without, and why? “My iPhone! For both good and bad, I should add. Being constantly connected lets me stay in touch with my colleagues and friends wherever I am, and that makes it much easier to balance work commitments with family and personal life. On the flip side, that constant connectivity can be addictive. I’ve made it a point to intentionally put the phone away during family time, at meals, and so forth.”

“There are only 1,440 minutes in every day — and it’s the same for everybody,” Alex Gounares says. “The question is, what are you doing with them?” (Alex Gounares Photo)

What’s your workspace like, and why does it work for you? “I am a huge fan of the triple monitor setup — I have this at both my home office, as well as at work. This arrangement let’s me increase my productivity significantly. The central monitor is for whatever I am working on (such as doing this interview!). The left monitor is for email and iMessage. The right monitor is for whatever reference material is needed at the time (e.g. API documentation when writing code).”

Your best tip or trick for managing everyday work and life. (Help us out, we need it.) “The Law of 1440. There are only 1440 minutes in every day — and it’s the same for everybody. The question is, what are you doing with them? I try to be very disciplined about what I spend my time on and prioritizing what is important to me personally and my team at work. For example, I always take my kids to school, pick them up, have a family dinner, and so forth. That time is precious to me, and it’s the kind of time and experience that you can only have once — you don’t get it back! I’m fortunate that we’ve been able to create a work environment where all of us have that flexibility. And admittedly, technology like iPhones and WiFi on airplanes makes that achieving that balance a lot easier.”

Mac, Windows or Linux? “Mac with Linux running in Docker. What else?”

Kirk, Picard, or Janeway? “Adama. So say we all. OK, for the uninitiated, Adama is the captain of the Battlestar Galactica. If I have to stay within the lines though, I like attributes of all of the different “Star Trek” captains. But, since I survived my university years in significant part due to a weekly ‘ST:TNG’ respite, I will admit some partiality to Picard.”

Transporter, Time Machine or Cloak of Invisibility? “Easy — Time Machine. With a time machine, you could travel to a period of time in which the other two technologies have been invented! I will skip the geeky detour in time travel paradoxes though, and just make the comforting hypothetical assumption for this hypothetical question that the first time travel trip is to a time when those issues are solved.”

If someone gave me $1 million to launch a startup, I would … “Start Polyverse! I’m not sure I could give any other answer, as we did start Polyverse with a $1M seed investment from a phenomenal group of investors.”

I once waited in line for … “Hot Krispy Kreme donuts at the grand opening of the Krispy Kreme in Issaquah, Wash. I waited for four hours! Of course, at the time, the next closest Krispy Kreme was in Las Vegas. Since this is likely to be published, my official story is that I would have never, ever, ever, ever flown to Las Vegas for the sole purpose of getting a Krispy Kreme donut. That would clearly be excessive, and thus it was fortunate that a store opened in town.”

Your role models: “Too many to mention — I tend to admire and appreciate folks who have done something remarkable: Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking for their tenacity in pushing crazy (at the time) ideas; Margaret Thatcher for leadership in tough times; Elon Musk and Richard Branson for entrepreneurship; Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates for business savvy; Oprah Winfrey for her oratorical prowess; Ada Lovelace as arguably the first computer programmer, and so on. No list like this would be complete without adding my two young children to it. They are still young enough to take delight in the simple things in life — it’s a healthy and refreshing daily reminder!”

First computer: “Timex Sinclair 1000 — complete with a tape recorder for storage. My first real program was a video game — a dot (your spaceship) that could shoot other dots (the alien invaders of course).”

Current phone: “iPhone X.”

Favorite app: “Kindle! I read as much as I can.”

Favorite cause: “The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the work they are doing.”

Most important technology of 2016: “That’s a tough one — probably a toss up between AI and bio-engineering. 2016 was the year that an AI beat the top champion in Go, it was also the year that the first synthetic bacteria was created. Thankfully, they have not met yet.”

]]>Tech investors back novel fund to protect urban land and fight gentrification in Seattlehttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/tech-investors-back-novel-fund-protect-urban-land-fight-gentrification-seattle/
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 18:54:44 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398195A third-generation resident of Seattle’s Central District, K. Wyking Garrett has fond memories of the MidTown Center property on 23rd and Union. He remembers getting french fries at the now-closed Thompson’s Point of View restaurant, where his sister worked in high school, and waiting in line at the nearby post office with his father. The property was also the former home to Liberty Bank building, Seattle’s first bank owned by African Americans. Garrett’s grandfather was a co-founder. MidTown Center has remained a stronghold for the historically black neighborhood amid dramatic displacement. The Central District went from more than 70 percent… Read More]]>Forterra helps community activists secure an ownership stake in MidTown Center, a property in Seattle’s Central District. (Forterra Photo)

A third-generation resident of Seattle’s Central District, K. Wyking Garrett has fond memories of the MidTown Center property on 23rd and Union. He remembers getting french fries at the now-closed Thompson’s Point of View restaurant, where his sister worked in high school, and waiting in line at the nearby post office with his father. The property was also the former home to Liberty Bank building, Seattle’s first bank owned by African Americans. Garrett’s grandfather was a co-founder.

MidTown Center has remained a stronghold for the historically black neighborhood amid dramatic displacement. The Central District went from more than 70 percent African American in the 1970s to less than 20 percent in 2015. By next year, it is expected to drop to 14 percent.

“We’ve seen buildings gone, businesses that have been there for a long time are no longer there,” Garrett said. “Restaurants, like Thompson’s Point of View … we’ve just seen the erasure of the black community.”

The block has become emblematic of the Central District’s struggle. It is the subject of a song by Seattle hip-hop artist and activist Draze called “Irony of 23rd.”

As president of Africatown Community Land Trust, Garrett has been fighting, along with other activists, to preserve MidTown Center for the Central District’s black community ever since the property came up for sale a few years ago. In May, the organization reached a landmark deal with help from a new investment fund launched by land protection non-profit Forterra.

Forterra has raised a $10.5 million fund designed to help preserve and create community land and affordable housing in the Seattle region. It is a for-profit fund, with a modest 2 percent annual return. The unique model attracted the attention of big names in the tech industry, including Madrona Managing Director Tom Alberg and Nick Hanauer, an activist and venture capitalist with Second Avenue Partners. Forterra is launching the fund at a time when massive job growth in tech and other industries is putting strain on Seattle’s housing market and squeezing out lower-income residents.

Forterra executive director Michelle Connor

“I was intrigued by it because over the years, there’s been lots of discussion of different ways to accomplish social purposes other than just asking for donations,” Alberg said. “Many of us … give lots of money as donations but there’s been a trend toward investing in socially-oriented companies, companies whose mission is not to maximize return but a profit-making entity that has, in some ways, social goals that are more important.”

Forterra is a 25-year-old organization that, throughout most of its history, has focused on preserving wild lands and farmland in the Pacific Northwest. Now the non-profit is turning its attention toward protecting urban land for communities that have been rattled by Seattle’s rapid growth, which is driven in part by the booming tech industry.

“In order for old growth trees to thrive, in order for a farmer to grow radishes or blueberries, in order for a community group to come together … each of those creatures needs a place to grow and to thrive,” said Michelle Connor, executive vice president of Forterra. “And who owns the land determines what the outcomes of that land will be.”

MidTown Center. (Forterra Photo)

In the case of the MidTown Center project, Forterra simply leveraged its real estate expertise and acted as an intermediary. That helped Africatown Community Land Trust and Capitol Hill Housing, a non-profit affordable housing developer, to secure ownership of 20 percent of the property in partnership with a private developer, Lake Union Partners. Both plan to build affordable housing on the property, with more than 500 units for people with incomes between 40 and 85 percent of the area median, according to KNKX.

This story has been updated to clarify the roles of Forterra and Capitol Hill Housing in the property sale.

“Just the presence of the fund changed the conversation from being about activists fighting the development, to a community being invested equitably and engaged in the decision-making around the development,” Connor said. “For us, that was quite powerful.”

MidTown Center was the first of several projects tied to the Forterra fund. In January, Forterra invested $3 million, in addition to outside financing, to purchase a 1.7-acre property in Tukwila across from a mosque. In the next nine months, the organization will work with leaders in the Somali Community to raise the necessary capital to convert the property into an international marketplace.

“That neighborhood is very close to downtown Seattle,” Connor said. “It’s very close to light rail. It’s rapidly changing and that’s a good thing. The economy is doing very well there. But there are over 60 small businesses, that are predominantly run by women in the families of these Somali community members, that will be displaced and there is no place for them to go. So we are trying to keep up with the speed of the change in the neighborhood to house as many of those small businesses before they are displaced.”

Leaders from the Abu Bakr Islamic Center have partnered with Forterra create the Wadajir International Market for micro-enterprises. (Forterra Photo)

In total, Connor expects the fund to support around seven projects when it reaches its $15 million target. She says that she’s seeing growing interest from the tech community to invest in this kind of model.

For Garrett’s part, he welcomes investment from an industry that has rapidly transformed Seattle and left some communities behind.

“We have significant billionaires in this city and they should not be involved in displacing communities,” he said. “They should be involved in helping to support all of our communities to grow and thrive.”

]]>Indictment reveals how Russia’s Internet Research Agency used social media to influence the 2016 presidential electionhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/indictment-reveals-russias-internet-research-agency-used-social-media-influence-2016-presidential-election/
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 18:45:11 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398219Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russians as well as the shadowy Internet Research Agency on Friday with using social media accounts and other online techniques to sow disinformation and discord in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. The indictment says the group used stolen identities and invented false identities for the specific purposes of spreading disinformation about former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as well as Republican primary challengers to President Trump, and that some individuals involved in the scheme lied to the State Department about the purposes of their trips to the U.S. during the period in… Read More]]>Special Counsel Robert Mueller (Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons / public domain)

Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russians as well as the shadowy Internet Research Agency on Friday with using social media accounts and other online techniques to sow disinformation and discord in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

The indictment says the group used stolen identities and invented false identities for the specific purposes of spreading disinformation about former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as well as Republican primary challengers to President Trump, and that some individuals involved in the scheme lied to the State Department about the purposes of their trips to the U.S. during the period in question. It arrives months after Facebook, Google, and Twitter were called before Congress to explain the depths to which their platforms were exploited by Russian actors looking to spread disinformation, and details how numerous false accounts were created in hopes of making their efforts seem more widespread than they actually were.

“The conspiracy had as its object impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful government functions of the United States by dishonest means in order to enable Defendants to interfere with U.S. political and electoral processes, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” Mueller, who is investigating a range of activity between Russia and the Trump campaign, wrote in the complaint. The entire text of the complaint can be found here.

According to the complaint, the group organized under the Internet Research Agency — which was investigated back in 2015 by The New York Times — used fake social media accounts to attempt to organize in-person rallies and online support “expressly advocating for the election of then-candidate Trump or expressly opposing Clinton.” Some of the work was done from Russia through VPN connections that obscured the origin of those messages, while other members of the group purchased hardware in the U.S. in order to disseminate the messages. It also alleges that the defendants set up fraudulent accounts with PayPal in order to pay for some of its advertising efforts as well as its equipment purchases.

]]>Pittsburgh Profile: Beauty Shoppe co-founder Rabih Helou is bringing hospitality to coworkinghttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/pittsburgh-profile-beauty-shoppe-co-founder-rabih-helou-bringing-hospitality-coworking/
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 15:46:07 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398108PITTSBURGH — Rabih Helou’s company is called Beauty Shoppe, but it’s actually an operator of coworking spaces, and it has become an institution in this city through a string of high-profile real estate projects. “What we do is align ourselves with the model of hospitality that has existed for many years,” said Helou, the company’s chief operating officer and co-founder. “We work to provide greater value to our membership base but also provide more value to real estate.” After getting its start in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood in 2010, the company now operates four co-working spaces, with several others in the… Read More]]>Rabih Helou, co-founder and chief operating officer of Beauty Shoppe, inside the company’s future coworking space in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop)

PITTSBURGH — Rabih Helou’s company is called Beauty Shoppe, but it’s actually an operator of coworking spaces, and it has become an institution in this city through a string of high-profile real estate projects.

“What we do is align ourselves with the model of hospitality that has existed for many years,” said Helou, the company’s chief operating officer and co-founder. “We work to provide greater value to our membership base but also provide more value to real estate.”

After getting its start in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood in 2010, the company now operates four co-working spaces, with several others in the works.

GeekWire is essentially beta testing Beauty Shoppe’s next project, its coworking space under development at the former Boys & Girls Club building in the Lawrenceville neighborhood, which is hosting our month-long GeekWire HQ2 project in Pittsburgh.

We caught up with Helou for this Pittsburgh Profile, a series of Q&As with some of the most influential people and interesting characters we meet during our stay in the city. Watch video highlights below, and continue reading for edited excerpts from our interview.

What do you love about Pittsburgh? And what would you change?

Helou: I love that Pittsburgh’s cheap, because it allows you to experiment and do other things, because you’re not really tied to your rent or your mortgage. What I’m doing today is very much a function of the economics around Pittsburgh. What I would love to see happen in Pittsburgh is for it to grow into what it has the potential to be. …. I think there’s a coming out party that needs to happen. Enough of the aspiration. Be confident. We’re there, right? Let’s start producing. Let’s start having our voice. And let’s start investing back into the city. Let’s start seeing things build up and develop. Invest in your neighborhoods. Invest in your people. I think we’re almost there.

How did you come up with the name Beauty Shoppe?

Helou: In East Liberty, where we started, on the second floor of an abandoned building, there was gold lettering on the window that said Beauty Shoppe. It was a former beauty shoppe. Who knows how long ago it was a beauty shoppe. We took over that space and we just kept the name.

Favorite Pittsburgh spot?

Helou: There is a big park in the East End, not too far from my house, called Frick Park. And Frick Park was donated by the Henry Clay Frick estate. Right at the entrance of the park, there is the home they used to live in and a museum that I think his daughter built up, right at the entrance of the park. Right there, I really enjoy that. I’m there when I’m about to run into the park and hit the trails, and it’s my happy place.

Favorite Pittsburgh celebrity?

Helou:Larkin Page-Jacobs. … She’s the voice of NPR, the local NPR station. She’s the best in the country.

Best food in Pittsburgh?

Helou:Apteka, vegan Polish food. Apteka is what you get when a bunch of artists and creative people build a restaurant.

Best insider tip for newcomers?

Helou: Couple things. People talk. Watch your reputation. Everybody knows everybody. Number two. It’s not all happening in Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, and wherever. Go to Troy Hill, right? Go to Wilkinsburg. Go hang out in neighborhoods that people don’t tell you about before you come here. They’re O. They’re not that dangerous. They’re great.

Favorite Pittsburgh word or phrase?

Helou: It’s crude, but jagoff. Awesome. How it that a thing? It’s so crude.

(GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop)

Pittsburgh’s most important innovation or invention?

Helou: The self-driving car. … They’re all around the city right now. Fast-forward five or 10 years, will they be everywhere in the country? Sourced from here? And if we fast-forward 50 years, will we be telling the story of self-driving cars in Pittsburgh as the first and only place in the world where there was a proliferation of these automobiles all around the city? … I think maybe.

Can you tell us about any memorable experiences you’ve had in Pittsburgh that illustrate the character and nature of the city?

Helou: I’ve always been an East Coast guy, a big city guy. And there’s a pace in which I lived. When I moved from D.C., and I first started inviting people into my home to fix a plumbing issue, or paint a wall, the pace at which these people were operating was very different, and it was driving me crazy. But, if you slow it down a little bit, there’s a lots of beautiful moments in that.

What are the chances of Amazon HQ2 ending up in Pittsburgh?

Helou: Five percent.

If you were parachuting into Pittsburgh as a tech/business reporter, what’s the first story you’d want to cover?

Helou: Yeah, there’s a tech thing happening. But Pittsburgh represents the rest of us. Don’t ignore us. There are smart people here. And there are good ideas here. The burgeoning of the tech scene is almost a byproduct of that.

]]>Over-the-air wireless charging inches toward consumer market, starting with small deviceshttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/air-wireless-charging-inches-toward-consumer-market-starting-small-devices/
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 15:09:24 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398175PITTSBURGH — The idea of ubiquitous over-the-air wireless charging is a dream for people living in a tangled web of charging cords and adapters. Walk within range of the wireless transmitter, and an invisible beam of power charges everything from the smartphone in your pocket to the smartwatch on your wrist. We’re not there yet, at least not on that scale. But several companies are inching forward with products and technologies that will provide a glimpse of this potential starting this year. One of them, Powercast, based just outside of Pittsburgh, plans to release an over-the-air wireless charging hub called… Read More]]>Powercast’s PowerSpot over-the-air wireless transmitter. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop)

PITTSBURGH — The idea of ubiquitous over-the-air wireless charging is a dream for people living in a tangled web of charging cords and adapters. Walk within range of the wireless transmitter, and an invisible beam of power charges everything from the smartphone in your pocket to the smartwatch on your wrist.

We’re not there yet, at least not on that scale. But several companies are inching forward with products and technologies that will provide a glimpse of this potential starting this year.

One of them, Powercast, based just outside of Pittsburgh, plans to release an over-the-air wireless charging hub called PowerSpot in the third quarter this year, focusing on powering smaller devices like game controllers, earbuds and fitness bands overnight within a range of a few feet. A recent demonstration at the company’s offices provided a clear sense for the current capabilities and limitations of the technology.

“All that stuff that goes around your phone — earbuds, headphones, smartwatches, fitness bands – that’s a different charger for each one of those things. It’s starting to become a headache,” said Eric Biel, principal engineer for Powercast, during our visit to the company’s headquarters. “Given the current regulatory environment, we can charge those devices overnight.”

Powercast, an early pioneer in the over-the-air wireless charging market for commercial applications, received its Part 15 FCC approval for the PowerSpot consumer wireless charging hub last year. That approval limits the output to 1 watt of power. From a practical standpoint, that rules out scenarios like charging a phone, for now.

“We can do the phone, but it takes a very long time to charge,” Biel explained.

PowerSpot is expected to retail for about $50 when it’s released later this year.

The over-the-air wireless charging technology works by sending RF energy to a receiver in the device, which converts that RF signal to DC power, which is then used to charge the device or its batteries. The company is working to get its receivers embedded in devices, and in the meantime, it’s demonstrating the technology in retrofitted devices including game controllers and headphones.

It’s one of several companies competing for a foothold in the over-the-air wireless consumer charging market.

Steve Rizzone, Energous CEO, described 2017 as a “defining year” for the industry and the company.

But in a sign of how nascent the market is, Energous reported just $1.2 million in revenues in 2017, down from $1.5 million the year before, along with a loss of more than $49 million. The company’s revenues so far come primarily from engineering services, not product sales.

Another competitor in this market is Ossia, based in Bellevue, Wash., which is planning to license its Cota over-the-air wireless technology for a variety of uses, including retail settings, where digital signs could receive continuous wireless power, for example. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month, Ossia showed technologies including a AA wirelessly rechargeable battery, and the next version of its Cota Tile, a wireless power transmitter that is designed to look like a drop-ceiling tile.

While many consumers are focused on over-the-air smartphone charging, the bigger potential is in the broader Internet of Things market, said Jennifer Grenz, Ossia’s vice president of marketing.

“There’s no way you can get to a trillion IoT devices without wireless power,” she said, citing analyst projections for the IoT market. “Wireless power is going to go hand-in-hand with the evolution of this entire market.”

GeekWire reporter Taylor Soper contributed to this story.

]]>Does Seattle suck now? A snarky sticker sparks a conversation about Amazon and the changing cityhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/seattle-suck-now-snarky-sticker-sparks-conversation-amazon-changing-city/
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 15:00:31 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398059Charles Hadrann misses old Seattle. As a guy who was born and raised in the city, he’s certainly not alone in lamenting the change that has taken place in his hometown, especially the rapid growth of the past five to 10 years. But as a small business owner, he’s also not shy about letting his customers and passersby in the Fremont neighborhood know how he feels about it all. “Seattle sucks now,” reads the new bumper sticker on the window of Wright Bros. Cycle Works, a bike repair shop that Hadrann started in 1974 and that he’s run out of… Read More]]>Charles Hadrann, the owner of Wright Bros. Cycle Works in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, stands in his doorway near a new sticker that says, “Seattle sucks now.” (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

Charles Hadrann misses old Seattle.

As a guy who was born and raised in the city, he’s certainly not alone in lamenting the change that has taken place in his hometown, especially the rapid growth of the past five to 10 years. But as a small business owner, he’s also not shy about letting his customers and passersby in the Fremont neighborhood know how he feels about it all.

“Seattle sucks now,” reads the new bumper sticker on the window of Wright Bros. Cycle Works, a bike repair shop that Hadrann started in 1974 and that he’s run out of the same old building on North 36th Street since 1984.

Hadrann didn’t make the sticker. It bears no indication of its creator. But he said two women came into the shop one day to ask if he wanted any of them.

“They were just in the neighborhood, passing them around,” Hadrann told GeekWire this week. “One bought a house in Renton. One bought a house in Tacoma. They said, ‘You want some?'”

Of course I do, he told them. Now the sticker — and a bold pronunciation about the city where he has lived for 66 years — jumps out next to others on the window advertising bike parts or proclaiming his business as a “Best Places Seattle” location.

The lowercase typeface is unmistakably the same as that used by Amazon, and the “seattle” in front of “sucks now” even has the tech giant’s signature smile logo beneath it.

“A lot of us who are from Seattle, we talk about how it’s just out of control. They have overdeveloped Seattle,” Hadrann said, when asked why he put up the sticker. And while he’s quick to blame city government — including everyone from the Council to the Mayor’s office to the department of Planning and Development — Amazon gets a fair share of Hadrann’s ire.

“Their business practice is predatory,” he said. “They put out how many thousands of bookstores? Doesn’t matter if it’s a shoe company, doesn’t matter whether it’s a chocolate factory. Thank God they can’t do repair service … so that’s what I do.”

Hadrann is thankful that he not only owns his business, but the building it occupies.

In a place where Suzie Burke is famous for owning much of the neighborhood, Hadrann calls his small slice a “linchpin,” surrounded in all directions by Burke properties.

Thirty-four years ago, Hadrann paid less than $100,000 for the two-story, 1907 building. A faded printout of a picture, taped behind one counter in the shop, shows the property as a McDonald’s Price Rite and Percy’s meat store back in 1937. Hadrann put a lot of hours and sweat equity into fixing it up himself.

Nowadays, it’s common for a realtor or developer to walk in asking if he’s ready to sell. They’re offering $5 million now, he said, and when asked why he hasn’t taken it, Hadrann joked that the number’s not big enough yet. He doesn’t dismiss the fact that he could benefit greatly from the economic climate created in Seattle by companies such as Amazon.

“I’d rather build up, have a front deck there, to watch the Solstice Parade, things like that,” Hadrann said in reference to the neighborhood’s famous summer party. “It’s about community. I don’t want to leave. But it’s hard to say … you go into these places and it’s like, ‘Where’s the soul of Seattle?'”

(GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)(GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

Part of being old Seattle is missing old stuff, whether it’s buildings or businesses. Plenty have come and gone over the years, and perhaps it just seems like more and more are going during the city’s tech-fueled spurt. And “Seattle sucks now” isn’t the first bumper sticker to offer a snarky reply to all that change.

Twenty years ago, stickers surfaced taking on Burke and the major changes in “quirky” Fremont, where Adobe Systems built a giant new office location and changed the character of the small, arty neighborhood. “Fremont Sucks Thanks to Suzie” read those stickers. Ten years ago, when the Seattle novelty supply store Archie McPhee was located in Ballard, stickers sold there proclaimed, “Ballard Welcomes Our New Condo Overlords” as the longtime Scandinavian fishing neighborhood gave way to more and more high rises.

“They tear down buildings that had character and they put up these boxes,” Hadrann said, offering a popular take on rising Seattle that can be heard in practically every neighborhood in the city these days. “You can put lipstick on a pig all you want, it’s still a pig. They paint ’em in different colors! It’s still a pig!”

Charles Hadrann shows off a book about an early lodge in Seattle, with pictures of famous members. On the bike shop’s counter is a newspaper with a headline about Amazon. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)(GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)(GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

Wright Bros. won’t be mistaken for anything covered in lipstick.

The shop is stuffed to the rafters with old bicycles, rims, tires, tubes, chains, pedals and more. There’s an ancient-looking wood-burning stove, and tools everywhere. An open box of Rainier beer sits on a chair next to a spot where Hadrann clearly makes his own espresso. “It’s utterly ridiculous how many coffeehouses we have!” he says. Postcards from friends and customers, sent from all over the world, fade on a wall near the front door. The place should charge extra for the character within.

Hadrann’s clientele consists mostly of commuters. People who need a new light for winter riding, or brake pads. He calls himself a “Campy guy” because he has serviced Italian Campagnolo bicycles since the day he started getting into bikes. That distinction attracts a few professional riders to the shop.

Over time, he’s cut back on employing anyone, and rarely takes in apprentices. The shop is technically a co-op, where people can use some of the space to do their own repairs — but that doesn’t really happen anymore.

Hadrann runs things with his wife, and a daughter who is in college occasionally helps out. Business isn’t brisk, but a board holding repair slips has work lined up for every day of the week. During our visit, a woman brought her bike in to get a tune-up. They chatted for 20 minutes or so about what needed to be done before she left her bike.

(GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)(GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

“It’s rather annoying, you get young people in here, they look at prices and then they go on their cell phone,” Hadrann said, referencing the competitive shopping people often do against Amazon prices. “There’s a rudeness there. If you want to look at prices, go outside.”

And so there’s Amazon again. Just like in the city where the company is seemingly everywhere, employing everyone, it’s a constant in conversations.

“I consider companies like Amazon kind of like economic locusts,” Hadrann said. “It’s what they are. They come in here … it used to be that you could live very well on $40,000 to $50,000 a year here. Live really well. Now they say you can’t live here without making $78,000 a year. What’s the money for? We could put as many zeroes behind a digit as we want. Are we any happier?”

Hadrann said he’s traveled the world and seen plenty of big cities, including Shanghai, which he said is the busiest. If he ever does leave Seattle, he said it’ll be for a small town. “I’m not gonna tell you where it is!”

In the meantime, what doesn’t suck about Seattle? After a long pause, he offered a familiar answer.

“That there’s still places — old Seattle — that haven’t been mowed over yet.”

A 1937 photograph of the bike shop building back when it was a market. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)Wright Bros. Cycle Works in February 2018. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)
]]>Looking to spark Seattle’s startup ecosystem, Founder’s Co-op raises new venture fundhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/looking-spark-seattles-startup-ecosystem-founders-co-op-raises-new-venture-fund/
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 01:03:16 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398102 Founder’s Co-op, an early-stage venture capital firm that’s backed Seattle area startups such as Apptentive, Crowd Cow, LiveStories and Shippable, has raised $10.7 million of what could end up being a $25 million venture fund, according to a regulatory filing released Thursday. It marks the firm’s fourth fund since it was founded in 2008 by tech veterans Chris DeVore and Andy Sack. Sack stepped away from day-to-day duties at Founder’s Co-op a few years ago, leaving the Seattle firm in the hands of DeVore as well as partner and longtime Seattle area angel investor Rudy Gadre. It added Seattle… Read More]]>Techstars Seattle Managing Director and Founder’s Co-op founding partner Chris DeVore.

Founder’s Co-op, an early-stage venture capital firm that’s backed Seattle area startups such as Apptentive, Crowd Cow, LiveStories and Shippable, has raised $10.7 million of what could end up being a $25 million venture fund, according to a regulatory filing released Thursday. It marks the firm’s fourth fund since it was founded in 2008 by tech veterans Chris DeVore and Andy Sack.

Sack stepped away from day-to-day duties at Founder’s Co-op a few years ago, leaving the Seattle firm in the hands of DeVore as well as partner and longtime Seattle area angel investor Rudy Gadre. It added Seattle entrepreneur Aviel Ginzburg, co-founder of Simply Measured, to the team as a venture partner recently.

Members of the firm declined to comment when contacted by GeekWire. Securities and Exchange Commission rules often prevent firms from discussing ongoing fundraising efforts.

Founder’s Co-op’s raised its last fund in 2015, raising $20 million. At the time, DeVore noted in a blog post that “our mission is to make the Pacific Northwest the best place on the planet to build a world-class software company — the kind that achieves the scale and impact of a Microsoft or Amazon.”

Two of the biggest success stories for Founder’s Co-op to date include Remitly and Outreach, both of which graduated in the same year from TechStars Seattle.

Remitly, which specializes in helping people send money to family and friends overseas, has raised $215 million to date. Outreach, a service designed to help sales teams boost revenue, has raised $60 million.

In addition to his role at Founder’s Co-op, DeVore manages the TechStars Seattle program.

Founder’s Co-op’s investments span a wide range of industries, with the firm backing 89 startups to date. Those companies — primarily located in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia — have collectively raised over $1.3 billion.

Many in the Seattle tech economy have bemoaned the lack of home-grown capital available in the Pacific Northwest, and DeVore is one of the biggest advocates looking to change that imbalance.

“I’ve bet my investing career on the premise that the Pacific Northwest will continue to produce investment returns like the ones that early investors in Microsoft, Amazon and Starbucks enjoyed,” DeVore wrote in a blog post last summer. “But I’m also certain that the growth capital for those opportunities will mostly come from outside the region. My mission in life is to help the best founders here build the kind of companies that the best investors anywhere would kill to invest in. It’s not always easy, but it’s the most fun I’ve ever had.”

]]>Amazon fires Transparent star Jeffrey Tambor after sexual harassment investigationhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/amazon-fires-transparent-star-jeffrey-tambor-sexual-harassment-investigation/
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 00:04:13 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398070Amazon Studios officially fired actor and Transparent star Jeffrey Tambor Thursday following an investigation into sexual harassment allegations, according to a report by the Hollywood Reporter. Amazon confirmed to GeekWire that Tambor will not be returning for the show’s fifth season, but declined to comment further. Tambor had previously said that he would leave the show after two actresses, fellow Transparent cast member Trace Lysette and actress Van Barnes, accused him of sexual harassment. Lysette told the reporter that Tambor “got physical” in one instance. Both Lysette and Barnes are transgender, an ironic twist given Tambor’s starring role as transgender character Maura Pfefferman on… Read More]]>Jeffrey Tambor at the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. (BigStock Photo)

Amazon Studios officially fired actor and Transparent star Jeffrey Tambor Thursday following an investigation into sexual harassment allegations, according to a report by the Hollywood Reporter.

Amazon confirmed to GeekWire that Tambor will not be returning for the show’s fifth season, but declined to comment further.

Tambor had previously said that he would leave the show after two actresses, fellow Transparent cast member Trace Lysette and actress Van Barnes, accused him of sexual harassment. Lysette told the reporter that Tambor “got physical” in one instance.

Both Lysette and Barnes are transgender, an ironic twist given Tambor’s starring role as transgender character Maura Pfefferman on the Amazon show. Tambor is not transgender.

It’s not the first such situation for Amazon Studios — in October, studio head Roy Price resigned amidst sexual harassment allegations, just one of dozens of high-profile men in media, politics and business to do so as a grassroots movement to uncover and denounce sexual harassment swept the country.

It’s not clear how Tambor’s departure will affect the future of Transparent. His character was the central figure of the show that won him and the studio multiple Emmy and Golden Globe awards, making history for a TV streaming service.

]]>Impinj Q4 revenue comes in even lower than expected, stock drops another 11 percenthttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/impinj-q4-revenue-comes-even-lower-expected-stock-drops-another-11-percent/
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 00:01:23 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398084Seattle-based RFID technology company Impinj, which warned two weeks ago that its fourth quarter revenue would be lower than anticipated, missed those reduced estimates this afternoon with revenue of $26.9 million for the period ended Dec. 31. When it lowered its estimates on Feb. 1, the company had said its revenue would come in at $29 million to $30 million. Impinj said the difference resulted from agreeing to “a partner’s request for a one-time product exchange after the preliminary revenue estimates were previously announced, requiring an accounting reserve in the fourth quarter of 2017.” As a result, the company said… Read More]]>Impinj CEO Chris Diorio. (GeekWire File Photo)

Seattle-based RFID technology company Impinj, which warned two weeks ago that its fourth quarter revenue would be lower than anticipated, missed those reduced estimates this afternoon with revenue of $26.9 million for the period ended Dec. 31. When it lowered its estimates on Feb. 1, the company had said its revenue would come in at $29 million to $30 million.

Impinj said the difference resulted from agreeing to “a partner’s request for a one-time product exchange after the preliminary revenue estimates were previously announced, requiring an accounting reserve in the fourth quarter of 2017.” As a result, the company said it is increasing its revenue outlook for the first quarter by $3.25 million, to between $23.25 and $25.25 million.

“We remain confident in our market opportunity, position, and in our vision of identifying, locating and authenticating every item in our everyday world, and connecting every one of those items to the cloud,” said Chris Diorio, Impinj co-founder and CEO, in the earnings release.

Shares of the company are down more than 11 percent in after hours trading, at 11.85 at time of publication.

For the fourth quarter, Impinj posted a net loss of $9.3 million, compared with a profit of $103,000 in the same quarter a year ago.

RFID tags and technologies from Impinj are used in healthcare, retail, manufacturing and other industries. The company, founded in 2000, made its initial public offering in 2016. The company announced on Feb 1 its CFO, Evan Fein, will leave the company March 30 after 17 years.

]]>Pittsburgh Profile: Katrina Flora is a boomeranger, UW grad, and urban planner for Hazelwood Greenhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/pittsburgh-profile-katrina-flora-boomeranger-uw-grad-urban-planner-hazelwood-green/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 23:37:26 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398080A year and a half ago, Katrina Flora returned to Pittsburgh after a decade away from her hometown. She first left to attend the University of Washington in Seattle, pursuing a degree in political science and environmental studies. It was “the early days of Amazon building up its South Lake Union ‘campus'” but at the time, Flora says it “certainly didn’t register on my radar.” It’s on her radar now. Flora is the special projects manager for Hazelwood Green, a 173-acre former steel mill poised for a massive redevelopment that will include housing, public spaces, and commercial offices. The site… Read More]]>Katrina Flora sports a Seattle-to-Portland jersey at the finish of a 5-day bike ride from D.C to Pittsburgh.

A year and a half ago, Katrina Flora returned to Pittsburgh after a decade away from her hometown.

She first left to attend the University of Washington in Seattle, pursuing a degree in political science and environmental studies. It was “the early days of Amazon building up its South Lake Union ‘campus'” but at the time, Flora says it “certainly didn’t register on my radar.”

It’s on her radar now. Flora is the special projects manager for Hazelwood Green, a 173-acre former steel mill poised for a massive redevelopment that will include housing, public spaces, and commercial offices. The site is considered a frontrunner if Amazon selects Pittsburgh for its second headquarters.

“I am working on one of the most unique and unusual development projects that truly has the opportunity to make a difference for this city, region, and nationally,” Flora said.

Both Flora’s parents are urban planners and her mother, Rebecca Flora, is leading the Hazelwood Green project.

“The project has been and will continue to be an incredible learning and building experience for all involved,” Flora said.

Flora gave GeekWire a tour of Hazelwood Green on a snowy day in February. (GeekWire Photo / Monica Nickelsburg)

GeekWire interviewed Flora for this Pittsburgh Profile, a series of Q&As with some of the most influential people and interesting characters we meet during our month-long “HQ2” project.

Continue reading for her answers to our questions, and check out all of our Pittsburgh coverage here.

What do you love about Pittsburgh and what would you change?

Flora: I love the Pittsburgh degrees of separation, the that is so Pittsburgh. It is in some ways a very small city — when you meet someone else from Pittsburgh (adopted or native) you can consistently find a person in common. There are always stories of how people found their apartment or the living room couch, and stories of people helping each other. I’ve speculated the massive population dispersion in the ‘70s and ‘80s had something to do with the number of people with Pittsburgh connections and ties scattered across the country (and the world). Even when people leave the city, they don’t leave Pittsburgh behind. I imagine that breaking into a place where everyone knows everyone can be difficult for people who are new to the city, and that don’t have family or friends here. But maybe it is just Midwest enough, because Pittsburghers are generally very friendly and willing to help others out, to introduce people to their connections, and to welcome folks to the city (in a sense it is the opposite of the supposed Seattle Freeze).

Pittsburgh native Katrina Flora.

Transportation continues to be a challenge for the city; its topography doesn’t help. As a longtime bicyclist and transit advocate, I don’t own a car and don’t want to buy a car, but getting around this city without one can be difficult at times. Some of this has changed recently (Pittsburgh has never really had proactive cabs, the growth of Uber and Lyft filled a significant void in that sense), but I would like to see more investment and commitment from all levels of government in public transit. Thanks to a lot of the work by Bike Pittsburgh, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure investments and advocacy are well on their way, though they can always use added support.”

Favorite Pittsburgh spot?

Flora: Walking or biking across the bridges – the Sister Bridges, Hot Metal Bridge, and the Smithfield Street bridges especially – and the park and trail system. One of my favorite things of both Seattle and Pittsburgh is the extensive park systems in each city; they’ve set the bar pretty high. Growing up, two of Pittsburgh’s parks – Schenley and Frick Park, both 400+ acres – felt like my backyard. A substantial portion of Pittsburgh’s park systems were gifted lands and/or former estates of founding families that left quite the legacy behind.

Favorite Pittsburgh celebrity?

Flora: I can’t say I pay too much attention to Pittsburgh “celebrities,” but you have to hand it to both Rachel Carson and Mr. Rogers!

Best food in Pittsburgh?

Flora: That is a hard one. Pierogis and Pittsburgh staples aside, to name a few favorite restaurants (and I apologize for the east end focus): Morcilla (best small plates), Pusadee’s Garden (best outdoor seating), Smallman Galley (best variety), Enrico Biscotti Company (best smells), and Hidden Harbor (most unexpected ‘new’ establishment – when I moved back).

Best insider tip for transplants?

Flora: Visit other neighborhoods! There are so many in this city, tucked away in valleys and up hills that you may never even know they’re there until you go.

Favorite Pittsburgh word or phrase?

Flora: I would have to say “nebby.” I don’t use it much, and I’m not entirely sure what its origins are or if it is even officially considered Pittsburghese, but it brings a sense of nostalgia from growing up here. FYI, you would call someone who is being nosey, “nebby.”

Pittsburgh’s most important innovation or invention?

Flora: I don’t know about “most important,” but I will say I am regularly blown away by the things that originated in Pittsburgh, and simply the amount that was produced here.

How would you describe the tech, innovation and startup activity taking place in Pittsburgh to an outsider who hasn’t experienced it?

Flora: While it inadvertently intersects with what I do – as the main focus for Hazelwood Green’s development – for the most part, I am not in that world on the day-to-day. I would say it doesn’t feel as omnipresent as it may in other cities. It feels more grassroots and isn’t always about the tech sector, but is about innovation in other industries, small and large. A large part of that is the affordability factor. Like many other burgeoning cities, people (especially younger people) can afford to take more risks, experiment, and try new models because cost of living is relatively low, and there is a large number resources and networks available here.

What do you think are the chances of Amazon HQ2 ending up in Pittsburgh?

Flora: Pittsburgh may not seem like an obvious choice to some, but it certainly hits most of Amazon’s criteria. Aside from the obvious (and stellar) connections to universities and talent, and a history of industrial innovation, Pittsburgh is also uniquely positioned. The city can absorb a substantial amount of growth (today, its population is less than half of what it once was) and it is in a relatively low-risk area for climate change impacts and stressors that, over the next couple of decades, will continue to increasingly impact coastal cities. Personally, I have mixed feelings about how Amazon approached this process and government agencies’ use of economic incentives for private companies. However, there is no doubt that if done right, the influx of jobs and investment that Amazon is predicting for HQ2 could greatly benefit Pittsburgh and the region.

Can you tell us about any memorable experiences you had in Pittsburgh that illustrate the character and nature of the city and its tech/startup/engineering community?

Flora: There has always been a local effort to bring more women into engineering and “the sciences.” In middle school, with the support from my sixth-grade science teacher, I applied and won a scholarship to attend space camp from CMU’s Society of Women Engineers. While I didn’t go on to become an astronaut, it was certainly a memorable experience and demonstration that I had opportunities, I had options. Today, there are even more programs (local and national), like Girls of Steel, Hive Pittsburgh, and Remake Learning to name a few, that have been working to bring diversity and eliminate entry barriers. All of these programs, and the continued, passionate support of educators, community leaders, non-profits, and others are what help make Pittsburgh’s community special.

If you were parachuting into Pittsburgh as a tech/business reporter, what’s the first story you’d want to cover? Who is the first person you’d want to sit down with?

Flora: See above, perhaps take a look at what Pittsburgh leaders and organizations are doing to prepare the future generations, or what the workforce gaps are in the tech industry.

Any other advice for GeekWire HQ2 in Pittsburgh?

Flora: You’re from Seattle, so you’ll do fine, but prepare for any and all weather!

]]>Working Geek: Bryan Mistele, INRIX CEO and traffic expert, has a surefire way to beat congestionhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/working-geek-bryan-mistele-inrix-ceo-traffic-expert-surefire-way-beat-congestion/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 23:00:57 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=394224If your career is focused on transportation and traffic analysis, how are you going to spend your free time? On a boat, of course! When he’s off the clock, Bryan Mistele, founder and CEO of INRIX, heads to the water, which between Puget Sound and numerous Western Washington lakes can be readily accessed near his home and work. While Mistele “grew up on sailboats,” his current vessel is a Sunseeker powerboat for cruising the Sound. “I’m a firm believer that there is no problem that can’t be solved with salt water — either sweat, tears or time at sea!” Mistele… Read More]]>INRIX CEO and founder Bryan Mistele leaves the traffic jams behind aboard his powerboat. (Mistele Family Photo)

If your career is focused on transportation and traffic analysis, how are you going to spend your free time? On a boat, of course!

When he’s off the clock, Bryan Mistele, founder and CEO of INRIX, heads to the water, which between Puget Sound and numerous Western Washington lakes can be readily accessed near his home and work. While Mistele “grew up on sailboats,” his current vessel is a Sunseeker powerboat for cruising the Sound.

“I’m a firm believer that there is no problem that can’t be solved with salt water — either sweat, tears or time at sea!” Mistele said.

Launched in 2004, Kirkland-based INRIX provides transportation analytics, including an annual Global Traffic Scorecard that recently put Seattle in ninth place among U.S. cities for time spent stuck in traffic. The company also offers consumer apps for navigating traffic and finding parking. INRIX does research related to smarter cities and autonomous vehicles, a subject of personal interest for Mistele. Along with Tom Alberg of Madrona Venture Group, Mistele is a co-founder of ACES Northwest — an industry group focused on Autonomous, Connected, Electric and Shared (ACES) vehicles.

Prior to INRIX, Mistele was a general manager for nearly nine years of various groups at Microsoft including the Automotive Business Unit, Mobile Services group and HomeAdvisor, a real estate and mortgage service.

We caught up with Mistele for this installment of Working Geek, a regular GeekWire feature that looks at how tech professionals do their jobs. Continue reading for his answers to our questionnaire.

Bryan Mistele (INRIX Photo)

Current location: “I live in Redmond and work in Kirkland. My commute is 15 minutes without traffic, about 45 minutes with traffic, which is why at INRIX we’re trying to reduce traffic congestion!”

Computer types: “Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga. I’ve been using IBM/Lenovo computers almost religiously since 1993, although I do have an iPad and a Surface that I occasionally use as well.”

Mobile devices: “Every two years or so, I switch between an iPhone and a Samsung/Android device to stay current on both OS’s. I currently have an iPhone 7s, but I’m overdue for a Galaxy 8.”

Favorite apps, cloud services and software tools: “INRIX Traffic and INRIX ParkMe of course! Beyond that, I love Find My Friends to keep up with my family, OneNote for managing all my to-do lists, Venmo to transfer money to/from my kids, and Kasa for controlling home automation. On the desktop, I’m a huge fan of StreetSmart Edge for tracking the stock market. Since I’m still a total geek, I have Visual Studio on my machine for occasional programming projects and working with my kids who both are studying computer science.”

Describe your workspace. Why does it work for you? “My current workspace is a rather traditional office in Kirkland with a lot of windows. One side is an incredible view of Lake Washington and the other is a wall of glass overlooking our floor, which allows me to stay connected with what’s going on while having the quiet/privacy for meetings. I have an L-shaped desk with a single large Samsung monitor. In my office, I have seven pictures and paintings of boats, which is my outside-of-work passion since I find being on the water very relaxing.”

Your best advice for managing everyday work and life? “Starting/running a business is a marathon, not a sprint. You must draw some lines fairly early on travel, working weekends, email at home, etc. if you want to do justice to your business, family and mental health. That doesn’t mean there aren’t exceptions, but I’ve found the advice of ‘wherever you’re at, be all there’ to be very effective.

A research product from INRIX.

About once a month or so, I also do a ‘Think Day’ in homage to Bill Gate’s ‘Think Weeks.’ I take a stack of reading and go offsite away from phones, meetings and distractions to think about the business or a key issue we’re dealing with, and to read articles I wouldn’t ordinarily have time to digest.”

Your preferred social network? How do you use it for business/work? “I use Facebook exclusively for personal and family relationships, and Twitter and LinkedIn for business relationships. I find this model works well for me. I also use Twitter and my WordPress blog (BryanMistele.com) primarily for sharing thoughts related to ACES vehicles and all that is happening in the transportation space.”

Current number of unanswered emails in your inbox? “About 50 right now, but it typically bounces between 50 and 100. About once a month or so I can get down to about a dozen if I have a day with few meetings.”

Number of appointments/meetings on your calendar this week? “Since I’m not traveling this week, I have about 20-25 meetings plus 8-10 half-hour one-on-ones.”

How do you run meetings? “For our weekly leadership team meetings, I will usually come in with a list of issues (typically 5-6) that I think we need to discuss based on things that have come up since our last meeting. Before we start, others add to this list, so we typically have about a dozen topics to talk through each week. For one-on-ones, I generally look to my directs to come in with the list of issues they want to discuss. A couple of times a year, we will then do off-site meetings to discuss more detailed strategic topics as a group.”

Everyday work uniform? “When I don’t have a customer meeting, I prefer blue jeans and a casual shirt or pullover. When we have customers in town (usually several times a week), I default to khaki pants and an oxford with a pullover sweater depending on the weather. My mother used to work in a Polo store, so pretty much every dress shirt and pullover I have is Polo!”

INRIX’s Bryan Mistele and his sons. (Mistele Family Photo)

How do you make time for family? “I believe it’s important to have meals with my family, so I will seldom agree to breakfast or dinner meetings when I’m in town. I usually eat breakfast with my family and then I’m home by dinner time. Of course, regular date nights with my wife are a must! This year my oldest son left home to attend college in California, so twice a week we gather as a family over Skype to help bridge the distance.”

Best stress reliever? How do you unplug? “Boating is by far the best stress reliever I’ve found. I also read a lot. As an introvert (who has learned to be an extrovert at work), I find there is nothing quite like time alone with a good book to recharge.”

What are you listening to? “I’m a big fan of Ben Shapiro — I listen to his podcasts daily on my drive home. I’ve found him to be the most intelligent voice out there on politics and culture.”

Book on your nightstand (or e-reader)? “I have a big stack of both physical books and ones loaded on my Kindle Oasis. I alternate between business books (‘Driverless’ by Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman, ‘Shoe Dog’ by Phil Knight, ‘The Innovators’ by Walter Isaacson and ‘Everybody Lies’ by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz are recent reads), Christian/science/culture books (I love Discovery Institute books where I serve on the board, as well as anything by Josh or Sean McDowell) and novels — what I call my ‘fun books’ (anything by Christopher Reich, Stephen Frey, Joel Rosenberg, David Baldacci or historical narratives like Bill O’Reilly’s ‘Killing’ series).”

Night owl or early riser? “Early riser! I like getting up at 5:30 or 6 a.m. and having an hour or so of quiet time to myself before the rest of my family wakes up. I’m at work by 8:15 a.m. and leave by 6:15 p.m. to make it home for dinner. I typically go to bed at 10 or 10:30 p.m.”

Where do you get your best ideas? “Usually on my Think Days, but also in my morning quiet times.”

Whose work style would you want to learn more about or emulate? “I’m a big fan of Alan Mulally — he did a great job turning around Ford, but more importantly, everyone I know loves him as a person. He has an open, friendly and trusting personality and accomplished what he did by rallying his team together and doing it with a smile on his face. He cares deeply about everyone he works with, not just people at the top of the organization. I really wish more people in business were like him.

A professor of mine at the Harvard Business School once said, ‘In business, your network and your reputation are your two most valuable assets. Begin early to build the former and protect the later.’ Alan Mulally is a man who has a tremendous reputation, which is how he accomplished all that he did both at Boeing and at Ford.”

]]>Carbonite looks for more of the online backup market with Seattle’s Mozy now under its winghttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/carbonite-looks-online-backup-market-seattles-mozy-now-wing/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 22:35:56 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398038After a long stint inside the evolving EMC-VMware-Dell Technologies conglomerate, Mozy has a new home at Carbonite. Carbonite, which recently expanded to Seattle itself with the acquisition of Datascale, acquired Mozy earlier this week from Dell Technologies for $145.8 million in cash. Both companies offer consumer and professional online backup services, helping people and companies protect locally stored data against theft, disaster, or a laptop left behind in a cab. Mozy has bounced around between corporate parents over the years. EMC originally acquired the company in 2007, and transferred ownership of it to sister company VMware in 2011. When Michael… Read More]]>A dashboard overview of Carbonite Cloud Backup, one of the services offered by Mozy’s new parent company. (Carbonite Image)

After a long stint inside the evolving EMC-VMware-Dell Technologies conglomerate, Mozy has a new home at Carbonite.

Mozy has bounced around between corporate parents over the years. EMC originally acquired the company in 2007, and transferred ownership of it to sister company VMware in 2011. When Michael Dell formed the Dell Technologies conglomerate in 2016 after buying EMC, Mozy went along for the ride.

Carbonite reported its fourth-quarter earnings alongside news of the deal. Revenue grew 15 percent to $61.7 million during the quarter, while basic earnings per share, excluding special items, was $0.31, up 158 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

]]>Amazon will pay $1.2M to settle with EPA over illegal pesticide saleshttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/amazon-will-pay-1-2m-settle-epa-illegal-pesticide-sales/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 21:49:46 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=398027Amazon has reached a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over “unregistered and misbranded pesticide products” for sale on the company’s marketplace. In a statement Thursday, the EPA claimed Amazon was guilty of close to 4,000 violations of federal pesticide law. Amazon will pay a penalty of $1,215,700 as part of the settlement, the EPA says. The company also agreed to develop an online course to educate pesticide sellers, the public, and marketers on federal pesticide regulations and policies. The course will be offered in English, Spanish, and Chinese and it will be mandatory for any retailer selling pesticides on Amazon.com.… Read More]]>An Amazon Fulfillment Center in Dupont, Wash. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota)

Amazon has reached a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over “unregistered and misbranded pesticide products” for sale on the company’s marketplace. In a statement Thursday, the EPA claimed Amazon was guilty of close to 4,000 violations of federal pesticide law.

Amazon will pay a penalty of $1,215,700 as part of the settlement, the EPA says. The company also agreed to develop an online course to educate pesticide sellers, the public, and marketers on federal pesticide regulations and policies. The course will be offered in English, Spanish, and Chinese and it will be mandatory for any retailer selling pesticides on Amazon.com.

Update: Amazon provided the following statement to GeekWire regarding the settlement.

Regulatory compliance is a top priority at Amazon. Third-party sellers are required to comply with all relevant laws and regulations when listing items for sale on Amazon. When sellers don’t comply with our terms, we work quickly to take action on behalf of customers. We will continue to innovate on behalf of our customers and to work with brands, manufacturers, government agencies, law enforcement, and others to protect the integrity of our marketplace

The EPA began investigating the imported pesticides, which were not licensed for sale in the U.S., back in 2014. The agency ordered Amazon to stop selling certain pesticides several times. Amazon responded by pulling the products from the marketplace and notifying and refunding customers who purchased them. Refunds amounted to about $130,000 according to the EPA.

“This agreement will dramatically reduce the online sale of illegal pesticides, which pose serious threats to public health in communities across America,” Chris Hladick, the EPA’s regional administrator, said in a statement. “Amazon is committed to closely monitoring and removing illegal pesticides from its website, and EPA will continue to work hard to ensure these harmful products never reach the marketplace.”

]]>I went one-on-one with Carnegie Mellon’s champion poker bot and did NOT get crushedhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/went-one-one-carnegie-mellons-champion-poker-bot-not-get-crushed/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 21:10:36 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=397783PITTSBURGH — In preparing for this story, I was all set to describe in detail how I had been soundly defeated by Baby Tartanian8, a poker bot built by some of smartest folks I’ve ever come across from Carnegie Mellon University. And then a funny thing happened, I actually came out ahead! The victory comes with caveats aplenty — we played a minuscule sample size of 20 hands, I only finished up 103 chips in a heads-up format with blinds of 50 and 100, and I folded on the final hand in cowardly fashion — but it still counts. For anyone… Read More]]>Talking poker with Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor Tuomas Sandholm while I battle a poker bot called Baby Tartanian8. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper)

PITTSBURGH — In preparing for this story, I was all set to describe in detail how I had been soundly defeated by Baby Tartanian8, a poker bot built by some of smartest folks I’ve ever come across from Carnegie Mellon University. And then a funny thing happened, I actually came out ahead!

The victory comes with caveats aplenty — we played a minuscule sample size of 20 hands, I only finished up 103 chips in a heads-up format with blinds of 50 and 100, and I folded on the final hand in cowardly fashion — but it still counts. For anyone looking for a safe investment in today’s volatile markets, the best thing to do would be to fund my entry into the World Series of Poker Main Event this year. You won’t be disappointed.

I’m sure you’re all wondering, and I was too: why a poker bot? Poker is what the CMU researchers call an imperfect information game. That means there is more than one player and unknown variables. Baby Tartanian8 runs off a server back at CMU and uses game theory and Nash Equilibrium, a concept concerning optimal decision making in adversarial situations.

The researchers didn’t teach the bot how to play. It is able to read the rules, and then an algorithm runs on a supercomputer for a few weeks developing a strategy that is stored on a server and referred to during games.

“It tries to solve the game, so it takes a model of the rules of the games — at this point I can do these things, and the opponent can do these things, and then I can do those things — and then it figures out how to put probabilities on all the different moves for both players, but that’s a very hard thing to do,” explained Tuomas Sandholm, a professor at CMU’s School of Computer Science who co-created Baby Tartanian8 with PhD student Noam Brown.

It was a fascinating experience to jump into the game. Sandholm had just wrapped up speaking on a panel at the headquarters of language learning startup Duolingo. There we sat in the Duolingo cafeteria, talking about the nuances of the game while 250 techies and community leaders networked and munched on pirogies and downed Big Hop beers made by Pittsburgh’s East End Brewing Co.

I consider myself a solid poker player. I frequently walk away victorious in my irregular home game and usually come out ahead at the tables in Las Vegas. For a period in the mid 2000s — the heyday for Texas Hold ‘Em — I even managed to pay some school bills with online poker winnings. In getting ready for this assignment though I got deep in my own head, assuming Tartanian would wipe the floor with me, no matter the number of hands we played. Before the meeting I had a placeholder headline at the top of this post that started “Carnegie Mellon’s champion poker bot kicked my ass …”

Had we played even a few more hands I probably would have went down quickly as the bot was definitely a better player than me.

A second eight came on the final card, allowing me to take a commanding lead right away. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper)

Now for the game. I’m about to jump into some wonky poker strategy here, so if you’re not familiar with the basics of Texas Hold ‘Em, the most popular version of the game right now, check out this introduction.

I started off hot, winning four of the first five hands to build a 4,000-chip advantage over my opponent and revive my confidence. I twice nailed three-of-a-kind on the final of the five communal cards — also known as the river — and picked up a lot of chips that way. I ended up giving most of it back, sometimes because I just wanted to see Tartanian’s cards and understand its strategy, and in others instances I just got outsmarted.

It was clear from our session that Sandholm knows the game extremely well, no surprise given all the time he’s spent building these programs. On a couple occasions he second-guessed my moves, and each time I listened to him it worked, including one situation in which he called out the bot’s hand exactly and urged me to make small bets to extract maximum value from my opponent. Thanks for the tips Tuomas!

Tartanian was a cagey, and often frustrating, opponent. In Texas Hold ‘Em, few hands make it all the way to the end with both players showing their cards. So in 20 hands it was hard to pick up any meaningful trends. The bot kept bet sizes consistent throughout, keeping me guessing as to what Tartanian was up to. The bot also acted instantaneously, rather than stopping to think about a move for a second, which threw me off a little.

However, I did manage to learn a few bits of information on the playing style of Baby Tartanian8. If I showed weakness, choosing to not bet in some occasions or just call bets early in the hand rather than raise, it would often throw out very small bets. It was almost begging me to call its bets, but the bot did a good job of making this move in a variety of situations and frustrating the hell out of me in the process. On several occasions it slow-played top hands and in others it was over-aggressive, exactly the mix of strategies you would expect to encounter going up against a top-shelf poker player.

On a hand where I started with Ace-King of the same suit, the best two cards you can get outside of a pair, Tartanian tripped me up with a huge raise. That put pressure on me to commit a major chunk of chips to a great starting hand that hadn’t connected with any cards on the board. Over Sandholm’s advice, I folded.

I made some moves I might not otherwise make — and that wouldn’t be the best plays in a long-term setting — just to see how the bot would react. A couple of times I was able to bluff it out of hands with bad starting cards like 7-5.

To get the full portrait of the bot’s skills — and to be thoroughly crushed — I’d need to play a lot more hands, Sandholm tells me.

“To know who is actually better you have to play 10s of thousands of hands, so at 20 hands you have probably a 50 percent chance of ending up ahead,” Sandholm said.

Sandholm and his team have been working on this technology for more than 15 years and actually licensed it to Strategic Machine Inc., a company founded by Sandholm to apply strategic reasoning technologies to a range of applications that extends well beyond games. Any situation where there is more than one player involved and a series of unknown variables makes sense as an outlet. The range includes everything from military planning and strategy, dynamic pricing changes in retail settings, auctions and bidding for prizes like movie and streaming rights and much more.

And since this is Pittsburgh, a hub for self-driving vehicle research, there are applications to autonomous cars as well.

“You have to follow the rules of the road, but that leaves a lot unspecified,” Sandholm said. “How do you merge, for example? Do you merge like people do where they slow down and look at each other, or would it be better if those situations between those two fleets are negotiated in advance so they can just merge at full speed.”

]]>Employment lawyers puzzled over IBM’s non-compete suit against Microsoft’s new diversity chiefhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/employment-lawyers-puzzled-ibms-non-compete-suit-microsofts-new-diversity-chief/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 18:56:36 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=397920IBM’s decision to sue a longtime human resources executive for taking a new job at Microsoft is raising questions among lawyers who specialize in employment agreements and non-compete clauses. Earlier this week, IBM filed a lawsuit against its former HR VP and chief diversity officer, Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, claiming her new role as Microsoft’s chief diversity officer violates a year-long non-compete agreement. Although non-compete agreements are prevalent in the tech industry, it’s unusual for a company to enforce them over a role that isn’t tied to its core product or business. “I can’t figure out why they’re doing it,” said Robert Ottinger,… Read More]]>Lindsay-Rae McIntyre worked at IBM for more than 20 years, accepted a new job at Microsoft, and is being sued by her former employer for allegedly violating a non-compete clause. (Photo via Microsoft.)

IBM’s decision to sue a longtime human resources executive for taking a new job at Microsoft is raising questions among lawyers who specialize in employment agreements and non-compete clauses.

Earlier this week, IBM filed a lawsuit against its former HR VP and chief diversity officer, Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, claiming her new role as Microsoft’s chief diversity officer violates a year-long non-compete agreement. Although non-compete agreements are prevalent in the tech industry, it’s unusual for a company to enforce them over a role that isn’t tied to its core product or business.

“I can’t figure out why they’re doing it,” said Robert Ottinger, a San Francisco-based employment attorney who has been working non-compete cases for nearly 20 years. “I guess they’re just really angry at Microsoft for taking their HR person,” he said, describing McIntyre as “a pawn” who is “stuck in the middle.”

Ottinger, who practices in California and New York, said he has never before seen an HR staffer sued for violating a non-compete agreement.

McIntyre worked for IBM for more than 20 years before taking the job at Microsoft, where she will compete for many of the same types of hires. Microsoft announced McIntyre’s new role as chief diversity officer over the weekend.

IBM alleges in its lawsuit that “disclosure of the very type of confidential information that McIntyre possesses — non-public diversity data, strategies and initiatives — can cause real and immediate competitive harm.” The tech giant says that it is “inevitable that McIntyre will use IBM’s confidential information and trade secrets against IBM” in her new role at Microsoft.

Update 3 p.m: IBM provided the following statement to GeekWire.

“IBM has a long history of being recognized for leadership in a diverse and inclusive workplace. As IBM’s chief diversity officer, Lindsay-Rae McIntyre was at the center of highly confidential and competitively sensitive information that has fueled IBM’s success in these areas. While we can appreciate Microsoft’s need to deal with mounting criticism of its record on diversity, IBM intends to fully enforce Lindsay-Rae’s non-compete agreement – just like we do with all of our senior leaders – to protect our competitive information.”

The lawsuit shows just how critical diversity has become in the tech industry, where companies are aggressively trying to recruit people from underrepresented groups. Over the past decade, tech companies have faced increasing pressure to release employee demographic data, highlighting pervasive under-representation of women and people of color.

Given the competition for diverse talent, Michael Schutzler, CEO of the Seattle-based Washington Technology Industry Association, thinks “nobody should be shocked by the IBM lawsuit.” He added, “In our industry, the number one challenge is recruiting and developing the talent needed to fill the jobs we create.”

“In this case, we are talking about human capital as the asset,” he said. “A non-solicit clause prevents the former employee from poaching people. But the knowledge of where to find those people and how to recruit them in a brutally competitive marketplace is more valuable than poaching. The same argument holds for writing code.”

That argument isn’t flying with everyone in the employment law world.

“I doubt there’s any legitimate reason for it,” Ottinger said. “I can’t really see how an HR person could have anything truly unique so that it would be harmful to IBM because HR is something that everyone knows about.”

“If somebody is increasing diversity efforts, whether it’s at Microsoft or IBM, ostensibly diversity is going to increase overall,” Balasubramani said. “I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something about the optics of going after a diversity officer that just felt weird to me. That made me think, ‘Wow, I wonder if they may regret doing so,’ just because I could see people looking at it and saying, ‘This is really scorched earth.'”

Broad use of non-compete agreements has come under scrutiny in recent years. Traditionally used to protect intellectual property, lower-level employees are increasingly expected to sign them. The sandwich worker compelled to sign a non-compete has become emblematic of the phenomenon.

In New York, where IBM filed its lawsuit, the ubiquity of non-compete agreements has become “unbelievable,” Ottinger said. “Everyone gets a non-compete, and it’s a problem.”

Balasubramani believes the broader reach of non-competes could create an anti-competitive environment.

“If Amazon could tell all its employees to not work at other local tech companies, it’s really putting a cramp on the market forces for the labor market,” he said. “They almost have, in a sense, captive audience over employees and can command different terms in that respect. In a way, I think restricting a recruiter raises a similar issue.”

GeekWire has contacted IBM to comment on the suit. We will update this post when we hear back.

]]>Boeing helps lead new $32M investment in Singularity University, explores deeper partnershiphttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/boeing-helps-lead-new-32m-investment-singularity-university-explores-deeper-partnership/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 18:41:04 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=397884Aerospace giant Boeing is teaming up with Kirkland, Wash.-based WestRiver Group to lead a $32 million Series B investment round in Silicon Valley’s Singularity University. Singularity University announced the investment this morning. Silicon Valley Bank, TAL Education Group, Mukita, and PeopleFund also participated. SU said the new round will support, “the worldwide expansion of SU’s programs, and the development and scaling of its digital learning offerings.” That includes more digital media partnerships, such as its work with NBC on the forthcoming series The Awesome Show, as well as doing more to support companies in its startup portfolio. Defining what Singularity… Read More]]>Singularity University’s main Silicon Valley office. (SU Photo)

Aerospace giant Boeing is teaming up with Kirkland, Wash.-based WestRiver Group to lead a $32 million Series B investment round in Silicon Valley’s Singularity University.

Singularity University announced the investment this morning. Silicon Valley Bank, TAL Education Group, Mukita, and PeopleFund also participated. SU said the new round will support, “the worldwide expansion of SU’s programs, and the development and scaling of its digital learning offerings.” That includes more digital media partnerships, such as its work with NBC on the forthcoming series The Awesome Show, as well as doing more to support companies in its startup portfolio.

Defining what Singularity University actually is can be challenging. While it uses the language of higher education (“co-chair,” “faculty,” “alumni,” and yes, “university”), its main business appears to be holding seminars and doing training for executives, corporations and organizations. In many ways, Singularity University looks more like a modern iteration of a think tank, with paid events and programs, than a traditional degree-granting institution. (For its part, Boeing described SU in its announcement as a “global learning and innovation institute.”)

However, SU also has its fair share of critics. Bloomberg Businessweek today reports allegations of theft and discrimination at SU, and the withdrawal of financial support by Google leading SU to suspend its GSP, or Global Solutions Program, last year. According to the article, “alumni say for-profit Singularity is becoming just another organizer of conferences and executive seminars.”

Boeing, which invested through its Boeing HorizonX Ventures, appears to taking its involvement in SU even further than the investment.

An audience watches a Singularity University presentation. (SU Photo)

In a statement, Boeing said it will explore customized educational programs for its employees and may add Boeing technical experts to SU’s faculty. “SU shares our commitment to continuous learning that empowers people to solve complex, global challenges; and their work with transformative technologies represent potential game changers in the way we develop as individuals and work together as teams,” said Bethany Tate Cornell, Boeing’s vice president for leadership, learning, and organizational capability.

“At SU, we see that the world’s biggest problems are also often the biggest business opportunities,” said SU CEO Rob Nail, “So we are extremely excited to partner with companies like Boeing that have the capabilities to make a true difference at scale.”

Singularity University was founded in 2008 by futurists Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis, and emphasizes what it calls the power of “exponential technologies.” As part of the investment announcement, SU said that Diamandis was moving into the role of executive founder and would remain on the board, while WestRiver founder and CEO Erik Anderson would replace Diamandis as SU’s chairman. Boeing’s Cornell will also join SU’s board of directors.

SU has attracted a number of high-profile experts to its faculty, such as clean energy authority and science-fiction author Ramez Naam, entrepreneur Naveen Jain, futurist Paul Saffo, and “space tourist” Anousheh Ansari.

SU’s announcement did not include a total of funding raised, including the latest $32 million round. But a company spokesperson told GeekWire that “preferred financing,” which it defines as Series A and Series B combined, is $54 million to date.

]]>GeekWire Bash: Early-bird prices end Friday for our biggest, geekiest event of the yearhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/geekwire-bash-early-bird-prices-end-friday-biggest-geekiest-event-year/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 18:02:26 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=397200Our biggest and craziest event of the year — The GeekWire Anniversary Bash — is just a month away. A giant geek carnival, the Bash features all sorts of amusement and fun — from ping pong to video games to a zipline that buzzes attendees across the CenturyLink Field Event Center. Don’t wait: Early-bird prices end this Friday, February 16. Go here to purchase tickets before prices go up. We’ll be bringing back the ping-pong paddles, dodgeball courts, foosball tables and Catan boards for our annual tournaments, featuring some high-energy action between rival tech companies. The tournaments, which draw more than 500… Read More]]>The dodgeball court will feature some of Seattle’s top tech companies once again in 2018.

Our biggest and craziest event of the year — The GeekWire Anniversary Bash — is just a month away. A giant geekcarnival, the Bash features all sorts of amusement and fun — from ping pong to video games to a zipline that buzzes attendees across the CenturyLink Field Event Center.

We’ll be bringing back the ping-pong paddles, dodgeball courts, foosball tables and Catan boards for our annual tournaments, featuring some high-energy action between rival tech companies. The tournaments, which draw more than 500 participants, sell out every year, so make sure to secure your spot today.

The Bash, presented by First Tech Federal Credit Union, is a place to strut your company’s competitive spirit and have a little fun with other members of the tech community. Group tickets are available, so bring out your whole company to party with us.

Think about it like the Winter Olympics … for geeks. Cheer on your colleagues, get a game of ping pong in and watch a sumo showdown with drink in hand. It truly is march madness!

If you’re not interested in participating in one of the organized tournaments, don’t worry. We’ve got a host of fun activities in store that will fulfill your inner geekiness.

Sumo wrestling at the GeekWire Bash.

The 7th Anniversary Bash draws 2,000 people from the tech community, with a heavy concentration of developers and engineers who love to showcase their amazing ping pong slams, dodge ball catches and Catan power moves. Many companies attend in full geek regalia, in hopes of capturing the coveted spirit prize.

NOTE: Interested in sponsoring the GeekWire Bash and reaching Seattle’s community of tech geeks, developers and engineers? We’ve got some super fun sponsorship ideas that will elevate your brand. Please contact us at advertising@geekwire.com if interested in sponsoring our biggest event of the year.

]]>Astellas Pharma buying Universal Cells for $102M in Seattle’s third biotech acquisition in a monthhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/astellas-pharma-buying-universal-cells-102m-seattles-third-biotech-acquisition-month/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 17:53:14 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=397937Astellas Pharma, a Japanese pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, is acquiring Seattle biotech Universal Cells. Astellas will pay up to $102.5 million for Universal Cells in upfront and milestone payments, assuming the company hits certain benchmarks in developing its universal stem cell technology. The technology genetically alters stem cells so that they can be used by anyone, instead of patients needing to use a their own stem cells or find donor stem cells with matching biomarkers. “We are thrilled to be able to leverage the full potential of our Universal Donor Cell technology by becoming an intrinsic part of Astellas’ effort to… Read More]]>Universal Cells CEO Claudia Mitchell. (Photo via LinkedIn)

Astellas will pay up to $102.5 million for Universal Cells in upfront and milestone payments, assuming the company hits certain benchmarks in developing its universal stem cell technology. The technology genetically alters stem cells so that they can be used by anyone, instead of patients needing to use a their own stem cells or find donor stem cells with matching biomarkers.

“We are thrilled to be able to leverage the full potential of our Universal Donor Cell technology by becoming an intrinsic part of Astellas’ effort to fulfill the promises of regenerative medicine to treat diseases,” Claudia Mitchell, Universal Cells CEO, said in a news release. “The acquisition represents the recognition of the immense potential of our unique technology and of the outstanding work done by our team at Universal Cells.”

But the trend also points to another narrative: The Seattle region has a hard time hanging on to biotech and health companies, particularly large public ones. As acquisitions tick up, the number of independent biotech companies in the city ticks down.

]]>Ciara joins Russell Wilson with her own channel on fan app TraceMe — and a first look at their little girlhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/russell-wilsons-wife-ciara-launches-channel-fan-app-traceme-first-look-little-girl/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 17:08:55 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=396569In the comments and chats on Russell Wilson’s superfan app TraceMe, whatever is happening or has happened on the football field for the Seattle Seahawks quarterback sometimes takes a back seat to more pressing concerns: When do we get to see pictures of Sienna? Sienna Princess Wilson, the daughter of the NFL star and his entertainer wife Ciara, might be the best-kept secret in the world of celebrity baby reveals. Until today. Nearly nine months after her daughter was born, Ciara is joining Wilson on TraceMe, as the second high-profile personality in the Seattle-based startup’s stable, which promises exclusive and… Read More]]>Ciara and her daughter, Sienna, as photographed by the little girl’s father, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. (Russell Wilson Photo)

In the comments and chats on Russell Wilson’s superfan app TraceMe, whatever is happening or has happened on the football field for the Seattle Seahawks quarterback sometimes takes a back seat to more pressing concerns: When do we get to see pictures of Sienna?

Sienna Princess Wilson, the daughter of the NFL star and his entertainer wife Ciara, might be the best-kept secret in the world of celebrity baby reveals. Until today.

Nearly nine months after her daughter was born, Ciara is joining Wilson on TraceMe, as the second high-profile personality in the Seattle-based startup’s stable, which promises exclusive and behind-the-scenes daily content to fans longing for more access than traditional social media platforms might provide. Ciara’s channel launched with insights into her world of music, dance, fashion, beauty and family — including a video and images (shot by Wilson) showing off the couple’s little girl to a worldwide audience for the first time.

It’s all very traditional, in a People magazine sense, when it comes to learning more about the private lives of celebrities. But thanks to the passion and energy of Wilson, who serves as TraceMe’s chairman, and the team that has been built at the growing company, the tools and technology used to tell stories give everything a very modern spin.

Six months after TraceMe launched with $9 million in funding from a who’s-who list of backers, the company continues to hire — growing from 15 employees at the start to 24 now — and has moved into new offices in the Dexter Horton Building in downtown Seattle. There is also a new office in Los Angeles with VPs of content and business development — and a strong push to attract future TraceMe stars.

Screen grabs of Ciara’s channel on the TraceMe app Thursday morning show some of the collections and layout for the entertainer’s “world.” (TraceMe Images)

Joe Braidwood, vice president of marketing, told GeekWire that Wilson was the perfect in-app pioneer and test case during Seahawks games and into the off season.

“That’s kind of been phase one for us, really validating for us to what extent his fans respond to various pieces of content, what they love and what we can work on, what we can evolve,” Braidwood said. “And that’s been a great learning curve for us. Now we’re really ready for phase two, which is introducing our second celebrity and going bigger in many respects.”

As a music and fashion icon with a broad following in the U.S. and overseas, Ciara is no stranger to sharing her life with millions of fans — 17.6 million on Instagram, 10.5 million on Twitter, 13 million on Facebook. While TraceMe isn’t sharing numbers on app downloads or engagement it has achieved so far with just Wilson, the company is confident that Ciara — who married the football star in July 2016 — will attract a robust new audience.

“There’s a large base of people who love Ciara who aren’t necessarily Seahawks fans, who aren’t necessarily into football and it’s going to be great to see them coming into the product,” Braidwood said.

But Wilson’s use of the app has taught the TraceMe team plenty when it comes to what to expect from fans in regard to building a community. Prior to last week, engagement took place in the comments attached to specific pieces of content involving Wilson. Now users can start their own conversations and interact with other fans and discuss various topics. A feature has also been added to the UX that makes it very clear when a celeb gets involved in the conversation.

For his part, Wilson isn’t just the focus of the fandom, he’s in there mixing it up with his followers. TraceMe tracks users to see who is most active, and Wilson is always in the top three or five for comments.

“It’s one of the real, unique perspectives on what we’re actually building, this idea that you can literally be in a group conversation with someone that you’re obsessed with and that you’re inspired by,” Braidwood said. “The reaction from the fans to that has really been quite overwhelming.”

TraceMe’s Laura Cassidy serves as the content director for Ciara, and has been working with her since July in crafting her branding and what her world will look like in the app. They’ve been focused on stories that involve not only her, but her network — the characters she surrounds herself with and the experts that she’ll share with her fans.

They also consider Ciara’s personal and professional calendar and what’s going on in her life and how and when to share those moments with fans.

Laura Cassidy, a content editor at Seattle-based TraceMe, has worked with Ciara to craft the world that the entertainer shares on the app. (Photo courtesy of Laura Cassidy)

“She is a busy lady and she does a lot of different stuff in the entertainment realm, but she’s also a really dedicated mom,” Cassidy said. “It’s a big part of her life and her fans have never really seen the granular aspects of that before. They’ve also never seen her daughter. It’s really fun to see her explore and embrace that side of herself and share that with her fans. There are a lot of people who feel like they’ve grown up with Ciara, and we know that a lot of her fans are mothers, so it’s going to be so rewarding to see people actually get that full, 360 view on who she is as a woman.”

Cassidy calls the job of managing content around a celebrity such as Ciara a natural progression of the type of lifestyle and fashion journalism she has always done in previous jobs as a writer/editor at Seattle Weekly, Seattle Met magazine and on a digital team in Nordstrom’s creative projects division.

She said she still thinks like a magazine editor, cutting up information and presenting it in new and interesting ways.

“I’m very much a storyteller, so I think about characters and narratives,” Cassidy said. “What’s been really cool for me is learning how to do that in the framework of an app.”

Recurring series — some more immersive and meaty than others — will help to fill out a channel populated by various types of media — straightforward text, slideshows, and lots and lots of video.

“I think of people pulling out their phones when they’re waiting in line for a coffee and I think about people getting in bed at night and flipping though and looking for kind of a bedtime story to really sink into,” Cassidy said. “If I have a story idea, the frame that I run it through to test myself about whether or not it’s really solid is you have to learn something new about Ciara, you have to learn something new that you can use in your own life, and you have to feel like you couldn’t have gotten it anywhere else.”

Beyond beauty tips and fashion insight, Cassidy was particularly impressed and amused by a DIY mom series in which Ciara and her friends make projects at the kitchen table.

“It’s just not what people are expecting. It’s going to be really fun.”

As for Sienna, the little girl who now gets to join big brother Future in the spotlight, Cassidy said fans have been going “berserk” waiting for a better look. On Instagram, for instance, both parents have played it coy for months.

“This is a special case,” Cassidy said. “Oftentimes high-profile babies get revealed when they’re maybe a week old or something, and Sienna is almost a year old. Russell and Ciara are very family centric and thoughtful. They want to share their family with their fans in a really, really special way.”

Based on his ongoing use of the app he dreamed up, from a company he helped build in Seattle, Russell Wilson is sure to be a proud husband and dad in the comments on his wife’s new channel.

TraceMe is available on iOS right now, and will launch on Android in March.

]]>RealWear raises $17M for industrial augmented reality headgearhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/realwear-raises-17m-industrial-augmented-reality-headgear/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 17:03:51 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=397928Vancouver, Wash.-based RealWear this week announced a $17 million Series A investment round led by Columbia Ventures Corporation. The company’s $2,000 HMT-1 voice-controlled augmented reality device is worn by industrial workers and provides remote video calling, document navigation, guided workflow, mobile forms and data visualization. RealWear has shipped units to more than 200 customers.]]>Vancouver, Wash.-based RealWear this week announced a $17 million Series A investment round led by Columbia Ventures Corporation. The company’s $2,000 HMT-1 voice-controlled augmented reality device is worn by industrial workers and provides remote video calling, document navigation, guided workflow, mobile forms and data visualization. RealWear has shipped units to more than 200 customers.
]]>Tech Moves: Longtime Seattle tech vet Peter Wilson to lead Blockchain engineering team; Madrona adds Ignition Partners vethttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/tech-moves-20/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 17:00:50 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=397617Peter Wilson, a fixture on the Seattle tech scene for more than 20 years, is on his way to London for his next challenge. The former vice president of engineering at OfferUp, who also helped establish the engineering outposts in the Seattle area for Google and Facebook, joined Blockchain as the company’s first vice president of engineering. Wilson described blockchain technology as “the new internet” with the potential to “do to the financial system broadly what email did to the Post Office and e-commerce did to bricks and mortar.” The company shares a name with blockchain technology, a secure file sharing… Read More]]>Peter Wilson. (GeekWire File Photo)

Peter Wilson, a fixture on the Seattle tech scene for more than 20 years, is on his way to London for his next challenge. The former vice president of engineering at OfferUp, who also helped establish the engineering outposts in the Seattle area for Google and Facebook, joined Blockchainas the company’s first vice president of engineering.

Wilson described blockchain technology as “the new internet” with the potential to “do to the financial system broadly what email did to the Post Office and e-commerce did to bricks and mortar.”

The company shares a name with blockchain technology, a secure file sharing system invented to secure cryptocurrencies. The company — which raised $40 million in venture capital last year from billionaire Richard Branson and Google — creates the most commonly used blockchain wallet system, according to its site.

“The digital currency wallet is at the center of this ecosystem and provides a vantage point to understand and drive innovation,” Wilson told GeekWire via email. “Blockchain has the best and most used wallet so this is a great place to be if you believe in the potential of blockchain technology.”

Asked about whether blockchain technology is overhyped, Wilson also gave a sunny view of the technology’s prospects.

“With new technologies there is a tendency to overestimate the impact in the short term and underestimate the impact in long term,” said Wilson. “The internet was like this and I believe that blockchain and digital currencies will follow a similar pattern. There is a huge opportunity to improve people’s (financial) lives through decentralization, removing the need for trusted third parties, and empowering individuals to ‘be their own bank’. This opportunity goes far beyond the somewhat frothy Bitcoin speculation that fuels headlines, so in my opinion the opportunity is not at all overhyped in the longterm.”

Wilson started his career at Accenture before moving on to Microsoft, where he served as a director for nearly 10 years. He studied computer science at Imperial College in London before making his move to the U.S. in the 1990s.

“London has changed dramatically since I last lived here, and specifically the energy, optimism and scrappiness of the London startup scene reminds me of Seattle back when I first arrived,” said Wilson, who also plans to spend time in New York.

Most notably, Microsoft and Ignition Partners veteran Shannon Anderson joined the firm as its director of talent. Anderson will identify and develop top leadership talent for Madrona portfolio companies as well as serving as a strategic human resources partner, the firm said. She will also advise Madrona on talent elements of its investments and decision-making.

Anderson spent nine years as a recruiter and talent leader at Microsoft in the 90s and went on to be a founding talent partner at venture firm Ignition Partners, where she stayed for eleven years. She also co-founded and spent eleven years at Velocity Search Partners, an executive talent search company. She most recently served as a principal at Recruiting Toolbox, saying that she’s been “immersed” in the Seattle tech ecosystem for years.

Luis Ceze. (Madrona Venture Group Photo)

“We are fortunate to have so much talent here – and a lot of new talent coming to the area,” Anderson said in a press release. “My role is to help companies attract and keep the right talent; that’s what gets me up and excited every day.”

Madrona also announced that University of Washington professor Luis Ceze joined the firm as a venture partner. Ceze is a leader in computer systems architecture, machine learning, and DNA data storage. He’s also a co-founder of Corensic, a UW spin off backed by Madrona, and has worked informally with Madrona’s team for several years.

Meanwhile, the firm also promoted Daniel Li to principal. Li first joined Madrona as an associate in 2015 and previously spent three years as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.

John Maffei. (Photo courtesy of John Maffei)

— Esports platform Matcherinonamed entrepreneur and startup executive John Maffei as CEO. Maffei joined the company in January, just a month after it raised $1.2 million in new funding. He formerly spent nine years at Microsoft — four in the company’s Xbox division — and has founded several startups, including California-based mobile game company Titan Gaming.

Matcherino co-founder and former CEO Grant Farwell is now serving as chairman and chief strategy officer.

“Esports is exploding but the market is still developing and changing rapidly,” Maffei told GeekWire in an email. “Matcherino has an unbelievable opportunity to help shape the industry by providing the go-to platform for crowdfunding thousands of esports tournaments across hundreds of leading game titles each month. Ideally, Matcherino becomes the engine that enables a new generation of gamers to play esports for a living and allows esports tournament organizers to become paid professionals – not volunteers.”

There also remains opportunity in mobile, especially as game publishers “invest in making their games esports titles,” he said.

Adrianna Burrows. (Photo via LinkedIn)

— Adrianna Burrows, a Microsoft vet who led marketing for the company’s Windows division, is on to a new role. She has been tapped the new chief marketing officer of San-Francisco based Cornerstone OnDemand, a provider of workforce management software. Burrows was most recently the CMO of programming database StackOverflow.

Burrows spent six years at Micorosft, leading global product marketing, business strategy and brand communications initiatives as a general manager in Windows. Before joining Microsoft, she was a senior vice president at global press relations firm Waggener Edstrom. Burrows will remain in Seattle in her new role at Cornerstone and will oversee all aspects of the company’s global marketing functions.

“Cornerstone’s vision for its next phase of growth and the enormous potential to expand the company’s brand make it an exciting time to join this talented team. I look forward to playing a key role in Cornerstone’s evolution into a high-growth SaaS company,” Burrows said in a press release.

Jan Pedersen. (Ebay Photo)

—Ebay is making a big push into artificial intelligence, and the online marketplace recently tapped Jan Pedersen, a longtime Microsoft and Amazon computer scientist, as its chief scientist of artificial intelligence. Pedersen — the former vice president of data science at Twitter — will lead AI technology strategy and day-to-day technical work.

He formerly spent seven years leading core search technology at Microsoft and also spent a year as the chief scientist for Amazon’s A9 search engine and search advertising subsidiary.

“Jan is a true pioneer in the industry, with over thirty years developing search, deep learning, machine learning and AI technologies at scale,” Ebay CEO Devin Wenig said in a press release. “He joins us at a pivotal moment when AI sciences including computer vision and deep learning are now capable of transforming personalized, immersive shopping experiences. eBay runs on AI and our continued innovation under Jan’s leadership will transform each meaningful moment we have with our buyers and sellers.”

Before joining Microsoft, Huddleston spent seven years as a senior vice president at Salesforce, overseeing the company’s AppExchange store and later its IoT Cloud efforts. He formerly spent ten years in leadership at Oracle.

“The opportunity to be a part of an organization that is redefining an industry is rare,” Huddleston said in a press release. “Twilio has the potential to revolutionize the communications industry in the same way cloud computing redefined the software industry.”

Ashley Raiteri. (Avvo Photo)

—Avvo, the Seattle-based online legal services marketplace that was acquired last month by Internet Brands, named Ashley Raiteri vice president of engineering. Raiteri joins the company from airline travel company AirHelp, where he most recently served as the chief information officer. At Avvo, he will lead the company’s software development teams.

He described Avvo as having a dynamic and agile culture where “rapid testing and learning is at the forefront.”

“I’m looking forward to incorporating my data-driven approach so that we can continue iterating and improving – and so that we can continue to connect consumers with the legal help they need,” he said.

Alan Price. (Critical Vision Photo)

— Vision Critical, a Vancouver, B.C., based customer intelligence platform, tapped tech executive Alan Price as its new chief technology officer. Price joins the company from mobile SDK platform Fuel Powered, where he was the CTO and product director for five years. He formerly spent five years at Electronic Art’s Canada headquarters, where he served as CTO for four years.

“Vision Critical works to ensure companies around the world are actively improving their customers’ experience by engaging them, listening, learning, and applying customer insight to every interaction,” Price said in a press release. “As someone who is incredibly passionate about technology and how it can change our everyday lives, I’m thrilled to be working with a company whose mission is to do exactly that.”

Jack Bobin. (Tatango Photo)

— Text messaging marketing software provider Tatangoannounced that Jack Bobin joined the company as its enterprise business development manager. Bobin previously worked at AT&T, where he was a strategic marketing and product manager on the company’s advanced messaging solutions team.

“I’m thrilled to join the great team at Tatango,” Bobin said in a press release. “As a lifelong business mobile messaging advocate, I’ve always had a deep appreciation for Tatango’s messaging product and expertise in the industry.”

]]>Slice of Pittsburgh life: Pizza, politics, and renewal on the menu with activist chef Sonja Finnhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/slice-pittsburgh-life-pizza-politics-transformation-menu-activist-chef-sonja-finn/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 17:00:13 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=395815PITTSBURGH — Sonja Finn doesn’t think we should be fighting over one slice of the pie. That maxim dictates just about everything Finn does. It’s why tipping is verboten at her upscale pizza joint, Dinette. It’s the reason she decided to open her first restaurant in the neighborhood where she grew up. It’s why she is running for Pittsburgh City Council. Perhaps it’s why she ordered us two pizzas. “If the people are battling it out over crumbs … somebody else has the seven other slices,” Finn said. She’s trying to change that mindset, starting with her restaurant and, if she… Read More]]>Sonja Finn says she puts a higher premium on employee welfare than profits. (GeekWire Photos / Monica Nickelsburg)

PITTSBURGH — Sonja Finn doesn’t think we should be fighting over one slice of the pie.

That maxim dictates just about everything Finn does. It’s why tipping is verboten at her upscale pizza joint, Dinette. It’s the reason she decided to open her first restaurant in the neighborhood where she grew up. It’s why she is running for Pittsburgh City Council. Perhaps it’s why she ordered us two pizzas.

“If the people are battling it out over crumbs … somebody else has the seven other slices,” Finn said.

She’s trying to change that mindset, starting with her restaurant and, if she wins, at City Hall. “There is a significant portion of the population that believes that if somebody else rises, they fall and that’s what needs to be addressed,” she said.

Finn is a boomeranger — one of many Pittsburghers who moved away seeking opportunity and returned to participate in the city’s revitalization. She moved back to her hometown from San Francisco 10 years ago. In that time, she’s watched Pittsburgh emerge as an innovation hub, driven by its universities, healthcare sector, and hardware startups.

Those changes have been a boon to the former Rust Belt city but Finn wants to make sure Pittsburgh doesn’t fall prey to the same problems that other tech hubs, like San Francisco and Seattle, are grappling with.

“We want to be the best city,” she said. “I don’t think we get to that by chasing after San Francisco or New York. I think we get to that by deciding what is our strength and learning lessons from them. Let them be the labs, we can be the success.”

Finn is a pioneer of Pittsburgh’s emerging foodie scene, which is getting national attention. In addition to Dinette, she is the consulting chef of the Cafe Carnegie at Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, a dream-come-true gig because her 6-year-old “basically learned to walk in the hall of dinosaurs.”

Whoever said you shouldn’t talk politics over dinner has never met Finn. Her politics permeate everything in her orbit: food, family, and community.

That was one of the takeaways from eating dinner with her at Dinette. Our two-hour meal covered everything from Amazon HQ2 to urban farming to Trump and featured surprise appearances by Finn’s father and Hollywood director David Fincher. Those encounters perfectly encapsulate Dinette: A restaurant that manages to feel intimately connected to its community and relevant on the national stage.

First Dinette, then Pittsburgh

Finn opened Dinette in 2008. She is credited with jumpstarting the food scene in East Liberty and Shadyside “single-handedly” by some accounts. Dinette earned Sustainable Pittsburgh’s “Platinum Plate” status, the organization’s highest designation for restaurants committed to environmentally responsible ingredients and employee welfare. Some of Dinette’s ingredients are grown in a rooftop garden on-site — a result of Finn’s degree in urban planning and religious commitment to homegrown tomatoes.

A ‘Sonja Finn for City Council’ sign is posted in the window at Dinette. (GeekWire Photo / Monica Nickelsburg)

Last summer, Dinette got rid of tipping. It was the last change Finn needed to make the uphill battle of owning a restaurant feel completely worth it.

“If I’m going to fight this battle every day then this needs to be exactly the restaurant that I want, and the one thing that was lagging was that I don’t believe in tipping,” she said. “I think that everyone should know what they are going to make before they start to do the job.”

Dinette was one of the first restaurants in Pittsburgh to move away from tipping and increase regular wages for employees. It’s a risky move because increased upfront menu prices can put off some customers. But Finn is committed to sending a message with Dinette: sustainability is an asset, not a liability. She says the higher wages and eco-conscious ethos of Dinette create a sense of mission and purpose among her employees.

“They believe in it,” she said. “They’ve bought in. They’re committed to this and therefore the customer has a much better experience. The customer feels at ease. By not having tipping, it’s just like they’re being hosted at somebody’s house … by me not just thinking about cash and profit, but thinking about the overall well-being of the restaurant, including the employees, the restaurant does better. It ends up being more profitable.”

The model has made Dinette a success. But Finn’s situation also reflects the paradox of the modern Pittsburgh, because that success wouldn’t be possible without customers willing to spend around $30 on a meal. The restaurant is walking distance to Google’s Pittsburgh campus and other tech companies clustered in the neighborhood. Dinette feels welcoming to all but it has become a watering hole for its affluent neighbors.

Halfway through our meal, Finn started chatting with the patrons at the table next to ours. “We’re obsessed,” one said, adding later, “we registered to vote so that we could pull the election Sonja’s way.”

After a gentleman at the table left, the remaining customers introduced themselves. They are producers on the Netflix show “Mindhunter,” which films in Pittsburgh. Turns out their recently departed companion was David Fincher, the director behind “Fight Club,” “The Social Network,” and other hit films.

Seeking a seat at the table

Finn thinks that ethical business practices are the ingredients of Dinette’s success. She’s a firm believer that a rising tide can lift all boats. It’s the reason she’s running for Pittsburgh’s District 8 City Council seat.

“What I’m asking for Pittsburgh is we make it more livable for everyone,” she said. “We embrace that and we make it more livable for everyone. Then we will all rise and it will be what brings people here.”

Finn is much more interested in attracting newcomers because of Pittsburgh’s organic strengths than trying to land Amazon’s second headquarters. She isn’t against efforts to lure Amazon here but is frustrated that she doesn’t know “at what cost” because Pittsburgh and Allegheny County officials are refusing to release their bid.

Instead, she wants to see the city invest in universal preschool and infrastructure to attract more young professionals.

Finn launched her campaign for City Council when Dan Gilman vacated the seat to serve as Mayor Bill Peduto’s chief of staff. She won the Democratic nomination for the special election in January though Peduto is supporting her opponent Erika Strassburger, who is running as an independent. Strassburger is Gilman’s former chief of staff and has a long history with Peduto, according to The Incline.

(GeekWire Photo / Monica Nickelsburg)

But Finn’s work in politics didn’t begin with this campaign. She spent time in Washington, D.C., lobbying for the Farm Bill and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. She has also done advocacy for the Environmental Working Group and raised money for non-profits. Finn’s campaign platforms include universal preschool, infrastructure investment, and raising the minimum wage.

She can’t believe it when she hears “somebody who’s making $10 an hour fighting about the minimum wage … of somebody who makes $7.25” going up. “What is that? I think a lot of that is propaganda. All of these people who are struggling fighting amongst themselves while the elite few prosper.”

Finn inherited ambition from her mother, Olivera Finn, a pioneering immunology researcher at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Now a mother herself, Sonja Finn has a son in the same Pittsburgh Public School system that she graduated from.

Finn studied sociology and urban planning at Columbia University and attended the Culinary Institute of America before taking a job in San Francisco. She returned to Pittsburgh in 2008 to launch Dinette.

“Ten years later, and I’m starting to see these markers of San Francisco in Pittsburgh and it is worrying me,” she said. “So that’s really why I want to be on City Council. I want to just make sure that Pittsburgh stays livable, that that’s its strength, and that we reinforce that and don’t let that slip away.”

]]>Inside AlphaLab: Pittsburgh’s tech accelerator aims to solve the city’s startup challengehttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/inside-alphalab-pittsburghs-tech-accelerator-aims-solve-citys-startup-challenge/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 15:30:35 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=396473PITTSBURGH — Inside this city’s startup launchpad, Adhithi Aji shows off a smart flexible label that captures consumer product usage data from shampoo bottles and dog food bins. Seated on a chair upstairs, Seth Glickman dons a HoloLens while using augmented reality piano learning technology. And just down the hall, Jessica Strong explains how being a mother of three young kids inspired her to launch a pop-up childcare service. Welcome to AlphaLab. Spread across two floors in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood is one of the country’s first-ever accelerators. Since launching in 2008, AlphaLab has graduated 147 early-stage companies in a variety… Read More]]>Seth Glickman (center) and Fu Yen Hsiao are co-founders of Music Everywhere, an AlphaLab startup that develops augmented reality piano learning technology. (GeekWire photos / Taylor Soper)

PITTSBURGH — Inside this city’s startup launchpad, Adhithi Aji shows off a smart flexible label that captures consumer product usage data from shampoo bottles and dog food bins. Seated on a chair upstairs, Seth Glickman dons a HoloLens while using augmented reality piano learning technology. And just down the hall, Jessica Strong explains how being a mother of three young kids inspired her to launch a pop-up childcare service.

Spread across two floors in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood is one of the country’s first-ever accelerators. Since launching in 2008, AlphaLab has graduated 147 early-stage companies in a variety of industries, helping them turn ideas into legitimate businesses while becoming a bedrock of the growing Pittsburgh tech ecosystem.

Graduates of the 20-week program include Powered Analytics (acquired by Target); BlackLocus (acquired by Home Depot); Shoefitr (acquired by Amazon); NoWait (acquired by Yelp); and other startups that continued to grow in Pittsburgh like JazzHR, Gridwise, and The Zebra.

It’s a critical component of the tech scene here, but it’s still not enough. Despite the best efforts of AlphaLab and others, Pittsburgh continues to suffer from a lack of a global tech powerhouse — a giant, internationally-known company headquartered in the city that could serve as a magnet and anchor for the broader tech community, drawing the talent and creating the wealth to fuel the broader ecosystem.

“I think now people actually do believe that you could do it in Pittsburgh, and there’s potential,” he said. At the same time, he said, there’s pressure to deliver on that potential as a region, and make sure that Pittsburgh doesn’t “get complacent or think somehow that this is victory.”

“This is now the next phase, and it’s going to get harder,” he said. “Some of that might be tougher conversations around what’s needed, and more critical feedback to the startups because now we’ve moved beyond the phase of just saying, ‘Hey, you know, you should start a company.’ Now, it’s like, ‘Alright, here’s what you need to do to your company if you want to be world class.'”

AlphaLab Executive Director Jim Jen.

The seeds of this ambition are visible inside AlphaLab. It’s unique among accelerators, not only for its early formation and longevity but also because it was born out of Innovation Works, a Pittsburgh-based organization that is the largest seed stage investor in southwestern Pennsylvania. Innovation Works is funded in part by the state via the Ben Franklin Technology Partners program, an initiative established more than 30 years ago in response to the collapse of the steel industry. It has invested more than $73 million across 335-plus startups.

Jen joined Innovation Works in 2002 after a tech career in Silicon Valley and became executive director of AlphaLab when it launched in 2008. From the outset, Jen said, AlphaLab’s mission was to focus on “three Cs” for Pittsburgh: companies, capabilities, community. The accelerator aimed to help create local startups and guide them to product-market fit; ensure that its companies and internal team had access to appropriate tools and resources; and connect entrepreneurs to the larger Pittsburgh tech community, with the help of Innovation Works and others.

“As we look back, I feel good about what we’ve accomplished on all those fronts,” said Jen, who previously worked at HP, Booz Allen & Hamilton, and Instill Corporation.

AlphaLab takes 5 percent common stock in exchange for a $25,000 investment from Innovation Works and office space. It only accepts six-to-eight startups per cohort, allowing more time and resources with each company.

Jen said AlphaLab borrowed concepts from early accelerator pioneers like Y Combinator and Techstars, but also added its own touch. For example, the 20-week duration is longer than most other programs, giving AlphaLab flexibility with startups that may need more time to build the right product, or that may not fit the mold of a typical early-stage tech company. It also can draw funding from Innovation Works or Riverfront Ventures — a for-profit venture fund and affiliate company of Innovation Works — for follow-on investment rounds after the program concludes.

“We can be patient,” Jen said.

AlphaLab also launched a hardware-focused accelerator, AlphaLab Gear, in 2013. Cheaper prototyping methods and direct-to-consumer business models made it possible to create a hardware startup in a capital-efficient way, said Ilana Diamond, founding managing director of AlphaLab Gear.

That, plus Pittsburgh’s history of manufacturing, convinced AlphaLab to launch the hardware accelerator. It offers a 21-week customer discovery program and a separate 15-week manufacturing module.

“When you think about what competitive advantages we had in this region — we know how to make things,” Diamond said.

AlphaLab Gear launched in 2013 and helps guide hardware startups like TrashBot, which uses sensors, cameras, and machine learning to ensure waste ends up in the right bin.

AlphaLab has played a key role in Pittsburgh’s startup scene, which was largely non-existent a decade ago. Jen said investors from across the country who want to learn more about Pittsburgh-based tech companies will often contact AlphaLab, which acts as a conduit. That’s particularly important in a place like Pittsburgh, which does not have the level of investment capital available in places like the Bay Area or Boston.

“If we know what investors are looking for, we’ll show them a list of companies they may want to look at,” Jen said. “We’re building out an investor network to help companies here.”

There are traces of AlphaLab all over Pittsburgh, beyond the confines of its office. Attend a local tech event and you’re bound to run into someone with ties to the accelerator, either as alumni or a new company in the latest cohort. The phenomenon is partly due to the big city, small town nature of Pittsburgh. But it also speaks to AlphaLab’s impact within the tech community.

“It’s like the home base,” said Avi Geller, CEO of Maven Machines, an AlphaLab grad. “That’s what brought a lot of us to the city.”

Andy Chan, Avi Geller, and Barry Rabkin went through the AlphaLab accelerator with separate companies. They all attended the Duolingo/GeekWire tech event this week in Pittsburgh with more than 200 others from the community.

Dick Zhang, CEO of drone startup Identified Technologies, dropped out of the University of Pennsylvania and moved to Pittsburgh after he was accepted into AlphaLab Gear’s inaugural class. His company went on to raise a $3 million and now employs 25 people in the Steel City.

“I definitely would not have started the company in an official capacity without AlphaLab. I wouldn’t have known where to go,” he said. “There’s also something very encouraging about ten other founders with you, all struggling at 2 a.m., all preparing for the next pitch together, going through that pain together.”

AlphaLab is also committed to diversity within its programs and with the larger Pittsburgh community. Its building sits in the heart of East Liberty, a revitalized neighborhood that has undergone huge change largely driven by Google’s arrival in 2010.

Jennifer Van Dam, digital and community engagement manager for Innovation Works, said that AlphaLab opens its space to groups like the Association of Latino Professionals For America or Black Tech Nation. It also holds open office hours for anyone in the community, and created Startable Pittsburgh, a free eight-week summer program that teaches high school students about entrepreneurship and maker skills.

“It’s been a great way to get students involved in our ecosystem who otherwise might not have found a way to access it, or even know about it,” said Cole Wolfson, program manager at AlphaLab Gear.

Diversity is top of mind for Innovation Works — more than half of the companies it invested in over the past five years have co-founders who are women and/or people of color.

Jen said the city doesn’t have the density you find in Silicon Valley or Seattle, but there is big potential. He compared Pittsburgh’s tech ecosystem to a hot startup.

“We’re like a startup that has great engagement in our app or with our product, but we just don’t have the size yet in terms of number of users,” Jen explained. “But it’s a company that should get funded, and if you funded it, this thing could explode. That’s how we see Pittsburgh.”

As part of our ongoing GeekWire HQ2 coverage this month, I spent a day at AlphaLab and AlphaLab Gear meeting with entrepreneurs, learning about why they joined AlphaLab and what it’s like building a company in Pittsburgh.

Aji and Yannier both graduated from nearby Carnegie Mellon University and were part of the most recent batch of AlphaLab Gear companies. Aji is the founder and CEO of Adrich Tech, which develops smart product labels that help brands and retailers track consumer usage of items like shampoo or wine.

“Today there is a lot of data up until the retail store, but the last mile is really broken,” Aji explained. “There is no visibility to how, when, and where the product is being used. We are helping brands close that feedback loop from consumers directly.”

Aji pointed to low operational costs and access to local talent from universities like CMU and Pitt as advantages to starting a company in Pittsburgh.

Yannier is the CEO and founder for NoRILLA, which brings together the physical and virtual worlds to help improve STEM learning with mixed reality technology.

“It checks what users do in a physical environment with a computer vision system and gives them personalized feedback as they make experiments and discoveries in the real world,” she explained.

Yannier, who received her Ph.D in human computer interaction at CMU and a masters degree from Stanford, said she could have started the company in New York City but decided to stay in Pittsburgh.

“The community is closely tied together, and very friendly and helpful,” she said. “And especially in our case with education tech, there is a great network and customers to talk to. Everyone is trying to help each other rather than compete against each other.”

PathVu is creating a “Google Maps for sidewalks,” with a goal of mapping out sidewalk infrastructure and providing more detailed information about sidewalk accessibility. The company’s mission is personal for co-founder Eric Sinagra — his co-founder, Jon Duvall, uses a wheelchair, as does his brother.

“Helping people with disabilities is a core passion of our company,” he said.

Sinagra, a Pittsburgh native who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, said the city is perfect for testing the company’s technology given its unorthodox terrain and geography. “If we can navigate the hills and sidewalks of Pittsburgh, we can do it anywhere,” he said. That’s also a reason why companies like Uber have big self-driving research operations in the city.

Funding provided by AlphaLab Gear was a big draw to the accelerator, but Sinagra said there is additional value.

“It’s the connections with mentors, investors, and resources,” he noted. “We thought AlphaLab Gear would be a good start for us as an early-stage company.”

As the mother of three young children and co-founder of a co-working space in the Pittsburgh area, Jessica Strong knew all about the struggles of finding someone to watch her kids. In 2016 she teamed up with fellow mother and entrepreneur Priya Amin to create a Hotel Tonight-like on-demand model for childcare.

They found some traction with the idea but after joining AlphaLab, the business model crystallized.

“We pivoted and put childcare at events like networking nights and conferences,” Strong said. “That took off and we had paying customers.”

Flexable is also now seeing demand from workplaces that need more on-site childcare resources.

Strong called Pittsburgh a “super-well connected city.” Her husband, for example, catered lunch at AlphaLab last week.

“I feel like there’s an ecosystem of people trying things that is just well-received here,” Strong added.

After coming up with a startup idea at Dartmouth, George Cook and Ken Martin thought about moving to San Francisco or New York. But given the company’s mission — “we are the community bank for the 21st century,” Cook said — the founders knew they needed to be elsewhere.

“We were building a Main Street, middle-America solution and we didn’t want to do that from the coasts,” Cook said. “We landed in Pittsburgh, and we’ve been thrilled with it.”

Honeycomb Credit lets small businesses borrow money from their own customers in a community; the company calls it “debt crowdfunding.”

Cook said the blue collar roots in Pittsburgh help the company grow.

“People really, really care about Pittsburgh and they have that pride in place,” he said. “That’s important for our business model to work.”

Cook added that going through AlphaLab was like “bowling with bumpers.”

“They have so much knowledge of the startup ecosystem that helped prevent us from hitting some of those common pitfalls that early-stage companies have,” Cook explained. “It helped us get to the next level without having to go through some of those hardships.”

Virtual reality startup Stitchbridge is another example of the connection between AlphaLab and CMU, and the growing number of out-of-town tech workers coming to Pittsburgh. The company’s three co-founders are all CMU grads and hail from across the globe: New York City, Seoul, and Taipei.

Stitchbridge helps video producers edit VR content. Joining AlphaLab was attractive given that startup is working in a nascent industry, said Stitchbridge CEO Sarabeth Boak.

“We wanted to stick with people we knew could offer a great support network,” she said.

Coming from New York City, Boak said there is definitely a different culture in Pittsburgh.

“There’s a friendliness here, a desire to go out of your way to help that is not necessarily readily available in places like New York City,” she said.

Music Everywhere shares many qualities with Stitchbridge — it’s another startup created by CMU grads in the mixed reality space. The company is using Microsoft’s HoloLens device to overlay piano keys with virtual characters.

“We’re somewhere in the gap between education and fun,” said CEO Seth Glickman.

Music Everywhere built its prototype and people loved it, but the founders needed help on the business model.

“We started to ask questions we didn’t ask before,” Glickman said of joining AlphaLab.

Given the number of people moving back to Pittsburgh and the vacant land across the region, this city was the perfect place to launch Module Housing.

The startup develops and builds homes that can easily expand based on changing circumstances, like a new child or a big promotion.

“The more we learned about Pittsburgh and the real estate market in Rust Belt cities, we learned that it was the right place to start,” said Chief Design Officer Hallie Dumont.

Drew Brisley, chief product officer, said that AlphaLab has helped the company focus on the customer and “put energy in the right places.” He also said being in AlphaLab around other entrepreneurs going through something similar, even if in different industries, is valuable.

The camaraderie with fellow entrepreneurs in AlphaLab is also important to Jacob Kring, co-founder and CEO of HiberSense.

“Being around the other companies, some of them have gone through similar things,” he said. “When I run into a problem, I can walk two feet over and ask, ‘how did this happen?'”

HiberSense started at the University of Pittsburgh and aims to control the temperature inside a home with sensors in every room that track a number of variables.

“We try to make you more comfortable,” Kring said.

Kring added that the company, which works with local hardware manufacturers, appreciates the rolodex that AlphaLab provides.

“The people who run this program are some of the most well-connected people in the city,” he said. “If you need to talk to somebody, they can make it happen.”

]]>Could Pittsburgh’s resurgent airport be the key to landing Amazon’s HQ2?https://www.geekwire.com/2018/pittsburghs-resurgent-airport-key-landing-amazons-hq2/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 12:00:44 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=397236PITTSBURGH — Deep within Amazon’s request for proposals for its second North American headquarters, in a section about logistics, is this sentence: “Travel time to an international airport with daily direct flights to Seattle, New York, San Francisco/Bay Area, and Washington, D.C. is also an important consideration.” Later this year, Pittsburgh International Airport will check that box. Alaska Airlines is launching a direct flight between Pittsburgh and Seattle starting this fall, adding to a growing roster of destinations that does include New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C. For all the things Pittsburgh has going for it, like a first-class… Read More]]>The reimagined Pittsburgh International Airport. (Allegheny County Airport Authority Photo)

PITTSBURGH — Deep within Amazon’s request for proposals for its second North American headquarters, in a section about logistics, is this sentence: “Travel time to an international airport with daily direct flights to Seattle, New York, San Francisco/Bay Area, and Washington, D.C. is also an important consideration.”

For all the things Pittsburgh has going for it, like a first-class university system and growing clout in artificial intelligence and robotics, it has been dinged for its transportation systems, including the airport. But in the last few years momentum has picked up, with direct flights to 74 cities, up from 37 three years ago, as the airport attempts to remake its identity from a hub for connecting flights to an end destination.

When the project is complete, a disconnected landside terminal, home to parking, ticketing security and more, will be swapped out for one that butts up against councourses. (Allegheny County Airport Authority Rendering)

Pittsburgh is one of 20 remaining contenders for Amazon’s second headquarters, and while the region is considered a longshot, its efforts to land HQ2 are a window into the ways that cities around the country are making their case for the $5 billion corporate project and its 50,000 jobs.

Although the Pittsburgh International Airport modernization had already been in the works, the project was announced with great fanfare Sept. 12, just five days after Amazon released its HQ2 request for proposals.

Like Pittsburgh itself, the story of its airport is one of boom times gone bad, and getting knocked down only to rise up and reinvent itself. In 1992, a brand new terminal opened to serve as a hub for U.S. Airways, only to see the company to shed jobs and pull the plug in 2004.

“When I got here three years ago, this airport had been pretty beat up,” said Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, in an interview with GeekWire. “It was pretty deflated and demoralized, and the community wasn’t very hopeful that it was going to be able to participate in the economic renaissance that the region had been going through. And my job was to come in and see if we could bring in more flights. Could we reverse the downward spiral that the hub departing had on flights?”

The rebound of Pittsburgh’s airport shows in the increased number of flights, and growing passenger traffic. It handled close to 9 million passengers in 2017, an 8.2 percent increase over the prior year and the largest uptick in a decade.

The airport could already handle millions more annual travelers, but areas like security and customs and immigration are bursting at the seams, Cassotis said.

That’s a big part of why the airport announced the massive redevelopment project in September. A new “landside” terminal will butt up against the X-shaped terminal, taking over for the current space which is separated from concourses and requires a train to go back and forth. The project also includes a new parking garage, new roads to serve the terminal and a reduction in the number of gates.

“For the first time, we can say that the airport is now caught up to the comm renaissance and is participating and actually making a difference,” Cassotis said. “The return of flights has made a huge difference. We still have a long way to go, and I’m not saying we’re done, but I think between the continual growth in flights and passengers and the facility transformation that we are absolutely in the mix now.”

The airport authority said the project requires no additional tax dollars. Funding comes from a variety of revenue sources, including rates and charges to airlines, parking revenue, concession revenue, real estate revenue and royalties from natural gas drilling on airport property.

When GeekWire co-founder John Cook touched down in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago for our month-long HQ2 project, his first impressions from the airport were underwhelming:

I stepped off the plane at Pittsburgh International Airport at 8:15 p.m. on Saturday night, excited to explore our adopted city.

The place was nearly vacant.

Shops were closed. Light music on the overhead speakers softly played. And security guards and custodial staff appeared to outnumber actual travelers, prompting GeekWire co-founder and California native Todd Bishop to observe that it felt like we’d landed in Sacramento, a decade ago.

When I arrived on Monday morning, as you’d expect, there was a lot more traffic there, but still lots of unused space. The airport was replete with homages to the city’s industrial past and other achievements, and some funky art installations.

But big chunks of the airport felt outdated. Huge, wide concourses felt cavernous in places. The baggage claim area sprawled on as far as the eye could see.

Many of these issues are set to be corrected in the redesign of the airport, which Cassotis says will be complete within approximately five years.

Art in the terminal. (GeekWire Photo / Nat Levy)

Should Amazon choose Pittsburgh as its final HQ2 destination, there’s a spot near the airport that could work, though that seems unlikely given the retail giant’s proclivity for urban offices and the airport’s 30-minute travel time into town. Cassotis wouldn’t talk about it, but she did note that the airport has 3,200 acres of developable land, with plenty of space for a company looking for huge swaths of offices.

When complete, the airport renovation project will bring capacity to approximately 18 million passengers, with a path to extend that to 25 million. If Amazon does pick Pittsburgh, airlines can very quickly up the capacity to match the crush of people the retail giant will bring with it, Cassotis said.

“If Amazon chooses to locate here, or anywhere else, the flights will follow,” Cassotis said. “This is an industry that can bring supply to demand faster than any industry I’ve ever seen. If the people are here, the planes will show up.”

]]>Study: 1 in 10 Seattle residents live downtown and nearly 75% of commuters don’t drive alone to workhttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/study-1-10-seattle-residents-live-downtown-nearly-75-commuters-dont-drive-alone-work/
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 01:27:13 +0000https://www.geekwire.com/?p=397756Seattle is speeding toward some of its density and transportation goals, according to a new study from an organization that works to improve the city’s downtown core. The Downtown Seattle Association studied commuting habits, real estate development, and other metrics for its State of Downtown 2018 report. The group found that more than 70,000 people — or one in 10 Seattleites — live in the downtown area, which includes the downtown core, Capitol Hill, First Hill, the International District, SODO, and Uptown. Downtown is also seeing record public transit ridership, according to a related report by Commute Seattle, a partner organization… Read More]]>A view of Downtown Seattle from the water. (GeekWire Photo / Nat Levy)

Seattle is speeding toward some of its density and transportation goals, according to a new study from an organization that works to improve the city’s downtown core.

The Downtown Seattle Association studied commuting habits, real estate development, and other metrics for its State of Downtown 2018 report. The group found that more than 70,000 people — or one in 10 Seattleites — live in the downtown area, which includes the downtown core, Capitol Hill, First Hill, the International District, SODO, and Uptown.

The study area as defined by the Downtown Seattle Association. (DSA Graphic)

Downtown is also seeing record public transit ridership, according to a related report by Commute Seattle, a partner organization of DSA. The report indicates that just over 25 percent of commuters get downtown by single-occupancy vehicle, a 10-point drop since 2010. The number of single occupancy vehicles on the road is 6 percent less than the 71,000 car commuters in 2010. That decline happened as some 60,000 jobs were added downtown. Nearly 75 percent of commuters take public transit, walk, or use a new mobility service, like rideshare.

This post has been updated to clarify the change in single occupancy vehicles since 2010.

Seattle Department of Transportation

That massive job growth is driven by Amazon — which is headquartered in the downtown area, in South Lake Union and the Denny Triangle — as well as other tech and healthcare companies ranging from startup to titan.

To accommodate those workers, downtown Seattle added 3.6 million square feet of office space in 2017, amounting to a total of 11.2 million. There are currently just over 15,000 residential units downtown with an additional 26,000 scheduled for completion in the next three years.

Seattle has more construction cranes in operation than any city in the country. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

That growth has been a challenge and point of contention in Seattle, as anyone who has tried to navigate Mercer St. at 5 p.m. could tell you. In addition to increased traffic, rising housing costs are displacing some longterm residents. The downtown-adjacent Central District’s African American population was 74 percent in 1970. In 2019, it is expected to be 14 percent.

Despite these challenges, DSA is optimistic about Seattle’s potential to navigate growth in its urban core.

“Since 2010, downtown has added more than 60,000 new jobs and we have one of the fastest growing residential populations of any downtown in the country,” said DSA CEO Jon Scholes in a statement. “Looking forward, we must expand housing options across our city and maximize our major investment in new light rail to sustain our vibrancy and economic progress. We have an incredible opportunity in Seattle to lead the way nationally by increasing prosperity and opportunity at the same time.”